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TWO 



DISCOURSES, 



DELIVERED SEPTEMBER 29, 1839, 



ON OCCASION OF 



THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE GATHERING 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, aUINCY 



AN APPENDIX 



J 
By WILLIAM P. LUNT. 



;>?^ 



BOSTON: 
JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY 

MDCCCXL. 



C A M B HI D G E 1' II E S S : 
METCALF, TORKY, AND B A L L O U. 



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quincy, Ocl. 11, 1839. 
To THK Rev. Wm. P. Lunt, 
Dear Sir, 
We have the honor (as a Committee appointed for the purpose) to present 
to you attested copies of votes this day passed by the First Congregational 
Society in this town, expressing the thanks of the Society for the Discourses 
delivered by you on the 2!Jth of September last, and authorizing a request 
to be made to you for copies thereof for publication. 

We take pleasure. Sir, in pursuance of those votes, respectfully to re- 
quest you to furnish copies for that purpose. 

We are. Sir, with respect and in Christian fellowship, 
Your friends and servants, 
Samuel Savil, William Spear, James Newcomb, 
.TosiAH Brigham, Lewis Bass. 



quinaj, Oct. 11, 1839. 

At a regular meeting of the First Congregational Society in Quincy, this 
day holden at the Town Hall pursuant to warrant, — the Hon. Thomas 
Greenleaf Moderator, — the following vote was unanimously sustained, — 
viz. : 

Voted, That the thanks of this Society be presented to the Rev. Mr. Lunt 
for the very interesting and eloquent Sermons, delivered by him on Sunday, 
the twenty-ninth day of September last, on the interesting occasion of the 
Two Hundredth Anniversary of the gathering of the First Church in this 
town, and that he be respectfully requested to furnish a copy for the press. 

Voted, That the Parish Committee and the present officiating Deacons of 
the church be a Committee to communicate the same to the Rev. Mr. Lunt 

A true copy of record. 

Attest, 

Ibrahim Bartlett, Pat-ish Clerk. 



To Deacons Samuel Savij,, William Speak, James Newcomb, and 
Messrs. Josiah Brigiiam, and Lewis Bass. 

Gentlemen, 

I HAVE received your letter of the 11th inst., accompanied with the votes 
passed at a meeting, held on that day, of the First Congregational Society 
in this town, requesting a copy, for the press, of the two Discourses deliv- 
ered by me, on the 29th day of September last, on occasion of the Two 
Hundredth Anniversary of the gathering of our Church. 

I feel grateful to the Society for their kind reception of my humble 
endeavor to do justice to that occasion, which was so interesting to us all 
as a religious community. 

I will cheerfully furnish a copy of the Discourses, so soon as I can pre- 
pare the manuscript for the printer. 

I am. Gentlemen, with Christian regard, 

Your friend and minister, 

Wm. p. Lunt. 
quincy, Oct. 18, 1839. 



MY PARISHIONERS 



FOR WHOM THEY WERE PREPARED, 



AND AT WHOSE REQUEST THEY ARE NOW PUBLISHED, 



THESE DISCOURSES 



Stffccttonat elp t-nscrffteU 



1685. 




DISCOURSE I 



Deot. VIII. 1], 12, 14, 17, 18. 

Beware that thou forget not the Lord tht God, in not keeping 
his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which i 
command thee this day : 

Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, hast built goodly 

HOUSES, and dwelt THEREIN J ' 

Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy 
God: — 

And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of my 
hand hath gotten me this wealth. 

But THOU shalt remember the Lord thy God. 

Brethren and Fathers, 
Our church this dayf keeps a high and solemn festi- 
val. Two hundred years have elapsed since eight 
individuals, including the pastor and teacher, signed 
the original covenant,! by which they entered into 
" church-state," and became an independent ecclesi- 
astical body in this place. From so small a beginning 
have we grown to our present numbers and prosperity. 

* See Appendix T. f See Appendix A. t See Appendix B. 



8 

Dark indeed were the prospects of our pious fathers, 
in this and in all the other plantations of the Colony. 
A wilderness to subdue ; a bleak chniate to endure ; 
savage enemies to watch and resist ; disguised foes of 
their own nation following their steps, and misrepre- 
senting their acts and motives to the tyrants, civil and 
spiritual, whom they had fled from ; the venerable 
cathedrals and churches of England exchanged for 
poor meeting-houses with walls of mud and roofs of 
thatch ; all the comforts which their homes had afforded, 
all the tender attachments which held them to their 
fathers' roofs and graves, and above all, the moral 
associations which had grown up in their souls, in con- 
nexion with the localities, the scenes, the institutions 
and customs of their place of birth, and which consti- 
tuted their inner, spiritual life ; — all to be forgone, and 
in their stead to be substituted pinching want, wasting 
sickness, a strange land, as yet unconsecrated to their 
affections by sweet memories or solemn suggestions. 
Such were some of the discouraging, appalhng circum- 
stances, that met and surrounded our Pilgrim fore- 
fathers.* And the question naturally rises in the mind, 
and with this question all the instruction, and interest 
of the present occasion are connected, what principle 
was strong enough to nerve their spirits, and to sustain 
their spirits, in the arduous work, the almost hopeless 
enterprise, which they had undertaken ? The true 
answer to this question will be furnished in the sketch 
I am to offer you, this day, of the history of our 
church. 

* Many only reached this Western world to die here : or, as Cotton 
Mather expresses it, and for so sweet a sentence one can forgive much ab- 
surdity in that singular writer, " Many took New-England in their way to 
Heaven." 



There lay in tlie capacious minds of our fathers a 
great and noble design, — to rear a Christian common- 
wealth in " these ends of the earth." Great designs 
always impart strength to the mind that entertains them. 
But besides the conception of a noble purpose, which 
is like a grand picture before the imagination, those 
who are wise as well as enterprising settle beforehand 
the chances of success ; and their courage and perse- 
verance grow out of the likelihood of a favorable 
issue. But what strengthened our fathers, and encour- 
aged them to proceed with the attempt to realize their 
sublime conception of a Christian commonwealth in 
the wilderness ? Were there any rational grounds upon 
which they might raise a calculation of success ? 
Certainly none. Had they stopped to make calcula- 
tions, there would have been no New-England. The 
conception of a Christian commonwealth might have 
existed, across the Atlantic, in the minds of a few mu- 
sing men, and would have died with them, never being 
realized in history. The question, therefore, recurs 
again ; What supported our ancestors ? For history 
informs us that their conception became reality ; and 
the institutions that surround us, the life, social, civil, 
and religious, which we live from day to day, are so 
many evidences and monuments of the great reality. 
What supported them r The answer is, religious be- 
hef ; trust in God. This was the principle upon which 
their enterprise was based. The sentiment that sus- 
tained them is beautifully expressed in the words of the 
Anthem with which the solemnities of this occasion 
commenced ; 

" Watchman ! tell us of the night ; 
What its signs of promise are. 

2 



10 

Traveller ! o'er yon mountain's height 
See that glory-beaming star ! 

" Watchman ! does its beauteous ray 

Aught of hope or joy foretell ? 
Traveller ! yes ; it brings the day, 

Promised day of Israel. 

" Watchman ! will its beams alone 
Gild the spot that gave them birth ? 

Traveller ! ages are its own ; 
See ! it bursts o'er all the earth." 

There are two interestinor thouo-hts which occur to 
the mind, as we enter upon our subject. One of these 
is, that there is not a region on the face of the earth, 
that has not a religious history. That history may not, 
perhaps, be written. But there is no place that does 
not furnish materials for such a history, and few, if any, 
parts of the globe that do not present some monu- 
ments, to testify, more significantly and impressively 
than written signs or uttered syllables can ever do, to 
the religious thoughts, and affections, and hopes, and 
fears, that formerly inhabited the minds, and moved the 
souls of human believers and worshippers. Nor is this 
thought justly entertained, and fully understood, when 
we compress it into the proposition that the religious 
principle is universal. The important truth we are 
considering makes a livelier impression upon the mind, 
when we divide it into particulars, and reflect that there 
is, almost literally speaking, not a spot on the globe, 
be it mountain or plain, desert or cultivated region, 
rock or river or forest, that has not, in one period or 
another of the world's history, been set apart and held 
in peculiar sanctity, as a place of prayer or of devout 
meditation, by some family, tribe, or people, among the 
unnumbered generations that have, in past ages, pos- 



11 ^ 

sessed the earth. And thus the race, as a whole, have 
accomphshed what individuals could not, — have made 
the " great globe which we inhabit " an altar to the 
God who made it, and have realized, in their united 
experience, the momentous truth, which every individ- 
ual is taught in the abstract, as an essential doctrine of 
rehgion, but which the whole species alone can verify, 
— that the invisible object of human adoration is every- 
where present. 

Another thought naturally suggested, as we enter 
upon our subject, and which is kindred to the one just 
presented, is this ; — that Religion has been the source 
and motive of the greatest enterprises man has ever 
achieved ; and the origin of the most permanent mon- 
uments that human genius has been able to construct. 
Religion, we have reason to believe, built the Pyramids, 
those gigantic specimens of ancient art. And the tem- 
ples, the fragments of whose beauty are strewed over 
the plains and hills of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, bear 
testimony to the depth of the sentiment which they 
were reared to express. It was the religious sentiment, 
stimulating the imagination of an Angelo and a Ra- 
phael, that produced the master-work of modern archi- 
tecture, the church of St. Peter ; and gave rise to those 
conceptions of awful majesty and divine loveliness, 
which were expanded and embodied in the painter's 
representation of the Last Judgment, and of the Ma- 
donna. It was religion which inspired the muse of the 
Puritan Milton, and called into immortal being the 
noblest creation in literature, the Paradise Lost. 

Or, to select a few from among the greatest enter- 
prises achieved by mortals. It was religion which 
prompted and effected the Exodus of the Israelites out 



12 

of Egypt, kept them together until they were settled in 
the Promised Land, and their institutions were cement- 
ed into that ancient and venerable civilization, whose 
central principle, conspicuous amidst surrounding dark- 
ness and prevailing idolatries, was the belief and wor- 
ship of one invisible Jehovah. Or to descend from this 
instance, in which the sentiment was, as we believe, 
strengthened by miraculous occurrences. The Cru- 
sades, the discovery of America by Columbus, and the 
planting of permanent settlements on these shores, 
were all results of religion, and are all illustrations of 
this crowning sentiment in the human soul. 

Nor was the American continent an exception to the 
remarks that have been made, respecting the universali- 
ty of the religious sentiment. Before our pious ances- 
tors brought out from Christian England to these 
shores the religion of the Bible, there was a faith and 
a worship, imperfect and unenlightened, it is true, living 
in the breasts of the savages that roamed through 
the forests of the West. And the red men who owned 
the authority of the Sachem of Naponset,* in these 
Massachusetts fields, had some ideas, although faint, 
when compared with those which our divine religion 
unfolds, on spiritual subjects ; some elevating notions of 
what is " unseen and eternal ;" some forms of worship to 
give expression to religious sentiments ; and some code 
of moral maxims and rules, based upon spiritual sanc- 
tions, and extending to the actions of daily life. 

* " The tradition is — that this Saciieni (Chickatabut) had his principal 
seat upon a small hill or rising upland, in the midst of a body of saltmarsh, 
in the township of Dorchester (now Quincy) near to a place called Squantum ; 
and it is known by the name of Massachusetts I Till, or Mount Massachusetts, 
to this day." See Hutchinson's Mass., Vol. I. p. 408. 



\s 

It may be well, as a farther introduction of our sub- 
ject, to advert to the chief causes that induced our 
fathers to forsake their native land, and to seek a 
retreat in these distant regions. 

The same causes, that moved Luther in Germany to 
undertake the great work of Reformation, soon becamf 
active in England, the land of our ancestors. The cor- 
ruptions of Popery had long before been manifest to 
the minds of individuals, who had given expression to 
their indignant convictions, but had died without seeing 
the hope of their souls fulfilled. At length political 
causes conspired with religious convictions, and in the 
reign of Henry Vlll. the ball of Reformation was set 
in motion in England. Under Edward the cause made 
considerable and cheering progress, and the hopes of 
many were elated with glorious prospects of success, 
which were checked and turned into sadness and tears, 
when the intolerant Mary succeeded to the throne. To 
avoid the certain fate which awaited them at home, 
multitudes of conscientious and pious Protestants went 
into exile, and established churches, where they could 
worship in freedom, on the continent of Europe, par- 
ticularly in Holland and Germany. Elizabeth succeeded 
to the cruel Mary, and the exiled pastors, with their 
devoted flocks, returned into England, with high but 
delusive expectations of what they would enjoy under 
her reign. Elizabeth discountenanced Popery, it is 
true ; but she was tenacious of her own church, whose 
ceremonies and ritual, the relics of the old hierarchy, 
she was determined should be held in respect. In this 
state of things, the sect of the Puritans, to which 
our fathers belonged, whose leading principle was thor- 
ough reform, both in the doctrines and in the ob- 



14 

servances of the church, and the materials of which 
sect had been accumulating for a long time, became 
consolidated. The opposition of the Puritans had 
been at first aimed against the ceremonies, which, to 
their minds, savored too much of the old church. The 
" canonical habits " were made by the Queen essential 
to the exercise of the ministerial functions, and oppo- 
sition to these became henceforth a virtue, and was the 
rallying-point of the Puritans. This led to meetings 
for worship in private houses, a circumstance which 
exposed them to the jealousy and persecutions of the 
government. As their sufferings increased, their attach- 
ment to their principles was strengthened, and they 
soon began to question the doctrines also of the Eng- 
lish Church. During Elizabeth's reign a fourth part, 
at least, of the preachers in England were suspended. 
In 1583, she established the Court of High Com- 
mission, and conferred upon this court the dangerous 
power to punish at their discretion. James I. suc- 
ceeded to the throne in 1603, and the severities against 
the Puritans were continued. By 1604 three hundred 
of the clergy were either silenced, or excommunicated, 
or cast into prison, or forced to leave their country. 
Holland, the land of Grotius and Arminius, must ever 
be held in honor by us, for furnishing a safe temporary 
asylum to our exiled fathers. Thither John Robinson, 
with his church, went in 1608, and there they lived to- 
gether, until, in 1620, they removed, with the hope that 
their pastor would soon follow, and began the first 
settlement in New England at Plymouth. Under 
Charles 1. the tyrannical measures were continued, 
and the abhorrence entertained by the Puritans for 
bishops, and whatever belonged to the hierarchy, be- 



15 

came deeper and deeper. Part of this antagonist 
feeling expended itself in colonizing America, and the 
remainder was left to grow at home, until at length it 
burst out in a civil war, and from a monarchy changed 
the Englisti government into a commonwealth under 
Cromwell. 

Governor Winthrop's company came over in 1630. 
It seems to have been their original intention- to have 
settled, with the fifteen hundred persons composing 
their colony, in some one place, and to have given it 
the name of Boston. But several circumstances, after 
their arrival, prevented this design being effected. 
Necessity, arising from sickness, exhaustion, and the 
wish to be settled before the coming on of winter, in- 
fluenced them to disperse about in separate companies, 
and to commence distinct plantations, in places that 
appeared most convenient and promising. Hence 
the origin of the system of towns in New England, a 
system which has done much to favor the democratic 
element, which enters so largely into all our institutions. 
Hence arose Charlestown, Dorchester, Boston, and in 
course of time Braintree. 

In order to assist the mind to embrace, in one con- 
nected view, the numerous events, which extend over 
a space of two hundred years, it may not be amiss here 
to make a division into periods, marked and deter- 
mined by the most important and interesting occurren- 
ces that have taken place in the history of this place. 

It is familiarly known, that as early as 1625 a com- 
pany, of which one Captain Wollaston was the head, 
came here, with the intention of making a permanent 

* See Gov. Dudley's Letter to the Countess of Lincoln. 



16 

settlement. And from him tlie place received the name 
of Mount Wollaston, which it bore for a space of fifteen 
years, until in 1640, May 13, (old style,) the place 
became a distinct town, by the name of Braintree. So 
early as 1625 only one permanent settlement, that at 
Plymouth, had been made in New England. An 
attempt to make one a little to the south of us, at 
Wessagussett, (now Weymouth,) had failed, and the 
members of that company had been scattered. Wol- 
laston, after remaining here but a short time, removed 
south to Virginia, leaving, however, the greater part of 
his company, some of whom may have continued here, 
and mingled with the subsequent settlers ; on which 
supposition is founded the claim which has been made 
for this place, as the oldest* permanent settlement in 
the Massachusetts colony. As the purposes of Wollas- 
ton were mercantile and not religious, and especially 
as those he left behind fell into great dissoluteness, and 
gave much annoyance, and caused great scandal to 
their peaceful and pious neighbors, until decisive meas- 
ures were taken to punish their instigator, one Morton, 
it will not be to my present purpose, which is to give 
a sketch of the religious history of the place, to bestow 
further attention upon them. 

The earliest incident, of an ecclesiastical character, 
connected with this place, is the circumstance men- 
tioned by Governor Winthrop in his Journal, under date 
of Aug. 14, 1632, namely, " The Braintree company 
(which had begun to sit down at Mount Wollaston) by 
order of court removed to Newtown. These were Mr. 
Hooker's company." To them is to be traced the namef 

* See Appendix C. f See Appendix C. 



17 

given to this town, when it was incorporated. This 
company had heen hut a short time in the country, 
and their continuance at Mount AVollaston was very 
brief. Cotton Mather, in his account of Rev. Thomas 
Hooker, remarks that his friends " came over the year 
before (he came) to prepare for his reception." And 
we learn from Winthrop's Journal,* that Mr. Hooker 
arrived, September 4, 1633. They remained, therefore, 
at Mount Wollaston, before their removal to Newtown, 
at most but a few months. With the exception of the 
single incident just mentioned, nothing of an ecclesi- 
astical character is known in the history of this place 
previous to 1634, so that the first period of our church 
history may be reckoned from 1634, when by order of 
the General Court Mount Wollaston was annexed to 
Boston, to 1639, the year when a distinct church was 
gathered here. 

The second period may extend from 1639, Sept. 17, 
O. S., the date of the gathering of this church, to 1708, 
Nov. 3, when the town of Braintree was, by a vote, 
confirmed by the General Court two days after, divided 
into two separate precincts ; the north precinct com- 
prising what is now Quincy, and the south including 
what is now Braintree and Randolph. 

The third period may extend from 1708 to 1792, 
when the north precinct of the old town of Braintree 
was set off and became an independent town, by the 
name of Quincy. 

The next period may extend from 1792 to 1824, 
when the town and parochial concerns were finally 
separated, and the parish of the Congregational Society 
in Quincy was organized. 

* Vol. I. p. 108. 

3 



18 

With regard to the first of the periods just named, we 
must have recourse for information to the records of the 
First Church, Boston, and to books that treat of the 
general history of the colony at that early time. 

In the second period, comprising nearly seventy 
years, the affairs of the church were blended with town 
affairs, and scanty notices of church matters are accord- 
ingly found in the Braintree town records, the earliest 
date in which records is 10th day of 5th month 1640, 
which was only about two months after the town 
was incorporated. 

From 1708 to 1792, that is, for a period of eighty- 
four years, this was a separate precinct, having a pre- 
cinct clerk ; and two books, comprising the whole 
period, are preserved in good condition, which contain 
quite particular information respecting the affairs of the 
society, during the ministries of Mr. Marsh, Mr. Han- 
cock, Mr. Briant, and part of the ministry of Mr. 
Wibird. 

From 1792 to 1824, parish and town aflfairs were 
once more blended, and the records of the town must be 
consulted to gain what information is desired. 

The church records consist of two books ; but the 
oldest goes back no farther tiian to the commencement 
of Mr. Fiske's pastorate in 1672. Nothing is now left 
in the hand-writing of either Tompson or Flynt, the 
first pastor and teacher, although Mr. Hancock, in 
one of his century sermons, refers to a record, which 
he possessed, in the hand-writing of Mr. Flynt. 

To begin with the first period. From 1634, Sept. 
3, when Mount Wollaston was ordered by the General 
Court to be annexed to Boston, until 1636, those per- 
sons to whom grants of land in this place had, from 



19 

time to time, been made, were obliged to go to worship 
on the Sabbath at Boston. This was found to be very 
inconvenient, and accordingly the residents at the 
Mount, among whom " were many poor men having 
lots assigned them there, and not able to use those 
lands and dwell still in Boston, petitioned the town, 
first, to have a minister there, and after, to have leave 
to gather a church there."* This request was reluc- 
tantly granted ; and the reason assigned for the reluc- 
tance was, that so many chief men would be removed 
from Boston to the injury of the church there. The 
matter was, however, finally compounded, by taxing the 
lands held here a certain rate, to be paid into the treas- 
ury of the town of Boston. The first petition of the 
residents at the IMount, that they might have a separate 
minister, was granted as early as 1636. The vote of 
Boston first church, granting permission to Mr. Wheel- 
wright to preach at Mount Wollaston, seems to have 
been the result at which they arrived, after several meet- 
ings, and much discussion as to whether Mr. Wheelwright 
should be associated in the ministry with Wilson and 
Cotton, over the first church. This appears to have 
been the wish of some. Mr. Cotton, however, raised 
some objections to the proposal ; and Mr. Cotton's 
objections were not likely to be resisted ; so the matter 
was compounded again, by permitting Mr. Wheelwrightf 
to minister at the Mount. 

In a bookjt entitled " Plaine Dealing or Newes from 
New England," written by one Lechford, and printed 
in 1642, the author, who wrote with a view to check 
the current that was setting against Episcopacy, and in 

* See Winthrop's N. E. t See Appendix D. t See Mass. Hist. Coll. 



20 

favor of the Puritans, speaks of the meetmgs for wor- 
ship at Mount Wollaston and other places similarly sit- 
uated, under the name of " chapels of ease." This high 
sounding Episcopal appellation would, most likely, 
have excited in the minds of our Puritan fathers a 
feeling exactly opposite to what it occasions in us. 
To use a more simple phrase, this was a branch of 
the Boston first church ; and according to the writer 
just quoted, before an independent church was gathered 
in this place, " they of the Mount " came and received 
the sacrament at Boston ; " and (he further adds) some 
of Braintree still receive at Boston." 

And here a word may be said of the ministers (or 
elders, as ministers were called in early times) of the 
Boston church. The Pastor was the excellent John 
Wilson, one of the earliest Pilgrims. He came out to 
this country with Gov. Winthrop's company in 1630, 
and was elected and ordained pastor of the first church 
soon after their arrival. He survived two that were 
successively associated with him in the ministry, and 
died in the year 1667, at the age of 78 years. He 
seems to have been universally beloved and venerated 
in the colony. We have an interest in him, not merely 
as the first pastor of this church, when it was, if not 
a " chapel of ease," yet a branch of Boston first 
church ; but he had a large grant of land in the north 
part of this town early made to him by the town of 
Boston, for a convenient farm. Associated with Mr. 
Wilson, as teacher of the first church, was the famous 
John Cotton, a distinguished Puritan preacher from 
Boston in England. He was a great light in early 
times. His opinions were looked upon as law, and he 
is spoken of by the historians of the period, as doing 



21 

more than any other individual to fix the principles of 
Congregationalism, and to mould into the form, which 
they have in the main preserved to this day, our eccle- 
siastical institutions and observances. 

Mr. Wheelwright ministered at the Mount until 1637, 
Nov. 1, when he was disfranchised, and banished from 
the Massachusetts jurisdiction, on account of a sermon 
preached by him, which was judged to be seditious in 
its character. This sermon grew out of the Antino- 
mian controversy, as it was called, which raged at that 
period in Boston, and, strange as it may seem to us, 
which threw the whole community, political as well as 
religious, into a ferment. This theological controversy 
was commenced by Mrs. Hutchinson,* a woman of great 
talent, who established meetings in her own house, at 
which the sermons of the preceding Sabbath were 
freely criticised, and theological matters generally were 
discussed. Mr. Wheelwright was brother-in-law to this 
lady, and became a powerful advocate of her views. 
The result of the opinions which they advanced was, 
that the whole community was divided between those 
who, in theological phrase, were said to be under a 
covenant of works, and those who were under a cov- 
enant of grace. On the one side Mrs. Hutchinson and 
her friends charged the ministers of that day, with few 
exceptions, with preaching up works, duties, outward 
morality, to the neglect of that free grace, which is set 
forth in the Gospel as the ground of human salvation. 
The charge brought by the other party against the new 
sect was, that faith, the spiritual frames which relig- 
ion requires were insisted on, as men's sole reliance, 

* See Appendix E. 



22 

while the duties of life were undervalued and repre- 
sented as having no connexion with salvation ; thus a 
way being opened for all sorts of hcentiousness. Upon 
this ground the name was given to the new sect, of 
Antinomians, that is, enemies to the moral law. 

It is not my intention to go into a minute examina- 
tion of the opinions held by those who were styled 
Antinomians. But as two of the principal members of 
Mrs. Hutchinson's party, John Wheelwright and William 
Coddington,* had estates here ; one of them being, as 
we have seen, the first preacher at the Mount, and the 
other an honored name in our colonial history, and in the 
history of the neighboring colony of Rhode Island, 
of which he was the father, after he had been driven 
away from Massachusetts during the controversy just 
spoken of, it has not seemed to me proper to pass over 
the subject, although the difficulty of making it intelli- 
gible, by reason of the subtle metaphysical distinctions 
involved in it, and the peculiar technical phraseology 
in which the new notions were conveyed, is somewhat 
embarrassing. Perhaps, therefore, I cannot do better 
than to state, in my own language, the ideas I have 
formed respecting this controversy, the main point 
upon which it turned, and the leading principle and 
aim of the new sect. 

The name Antinomians, it will be remembered, 
was given them by their opponents. They rejected it, 
as well as the inferences drawn by the other party from 
their main doctrine. So far from attaching no import- 
ance, as the name implies, to good works, to the prac- 
tical parts of religion, they insisted upon their impor- 

* See Appendix F. 



23 



tance most earnestly in their preaching ; — wliethcr this 
was consistent, logically considered, with their assumed 
principles or not ; — and as for the lives and characters 
of the chief advocates of the new doctrine, it is suffi- 
cient to remind you that Wheelwright was, through a 
long life, esteemed and respected as one of the best 
of men ; Coddington's name is revered in connexion 
with the history of a neighboring colony and state ; and 
Henry Vane,* once governor of Massachusetts, and a 
cordial friend and supporter of the heresiarch of Mount 
Wollaston, went home to England; bore a conspic- 
uous part in the revolutionary scenes that rocked that 
kingdom to its centre ; was the steadfast and consistent 
advocate of freedom and the rights of man ; and finally 
gave the strongest possible practical refutation of the 
charge of Antinomianism, in the serene fortitude and 
Christian magnanimity, with which he closed a virtuous 
life upon the scaffold. 

This subject is the more appropriate to the present 
occasion, because the sermon, which occasioned Mr. 
Wheelwright's banishment from the Massachusetts 
colony, was preached, as I suppose, in this place. It was 
dehvered on a fast day, which had been appointed for 
January 20, 1636-7, with reference to the dissensions 
that had sprung out of the new tenets, about three 
months after Mr. Wheelwright had received permission 
from the first church to come out and preach to the 
people at the Mount. 

The text of this sermon is taken from Matt. ix. 15. 
" And Jesus said unto them, can the children of the 
bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is 

* See Appendix. G. 



24 

with them ? But the days will come when the 
bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then 
shall they fast." The preacher opens the subject, 
suggested by these words, with asking, what is the true 
occasion of a fast ? When ought Christians to fast ? 
The answer, which he expands, is given in the text ; 
" when the bridegroom shall be taken from them ; " 
when Christ is removed. This leads to another 
question, what is it to remove Christ ? And the answer 
to this carries him and his reader into the heart of his 
doctrine, namely, Christ is removed, in a spiritual sense, 
in the only sense in which he can be, since his death, 
whenever the peculiar doctrine of Christianity, justi- 
fication by grace, by faith, is taken away, and a 
covenant of works, a mere code of moral rules for 
regulating the behavior, without any inward exercise 
of the spiritual principle, is substituted instead. That 
he was anxious to guard the doctrine from abuses into, 
which those, who received it not aright, might easily be 
led, appears from his exhorting his hearers thus : " Let 
us have a care that we do show ourselves holy in all 
manner of good conversation, both in private and pub- 
lic, and in all our carriages and conversations ; let us 
have a care to endeavor to be holy as the Lord is ; let 
us not give occasion to those that are coming on, or 
manifestly opposite to the ways of grace, to suspect the 
way of grace ; let us carry ourselves that they may be 
ashamed to blame us ; let us deal uprightly with those 
with whom we have occasion to deal ; and have a 
care to guide our families, and to perform duties that 
belong to us ; and let us have a care that we give not 
occasion to others to say we are libertines or Antino- 
mians." 



25 

This certainly does not look like enmity to virtue or 
a disposition to disparage good works. In the conclu- 
sion of the discourse the preacher applies his doctrine 
to the comfort of himself and his hearers, in case a 
certain calamity should hefal them, which in iact did 
hefal them eventually, in the following remarkable 
passage ; " Suppose those that are God's children 
should lose their houses, and lands, and wives, and 
friends, and lose the acting of the gift of grace, and 
lose the ordinances, yet they can never lose the Lord 
Jesus Christ ; this is a great comfort to God's people. 
Suppose the saints of God should be banished, deprived 
of all the ordinances of God, that were a hard case, in 
some respects ; but if the ordinances be taken away, 
Christ cannot ; for if John be banished into an island, 
the spirit comes upon him on the Lord's day. There 
is amend for the ordinances, amend for banishment, if 
we lose the ordinances ; for God he will be ordinances 
to us." 

The passage last quoted illustrates the temper and 
aim of this celebrated discourse. " If we lose the ordi- 
nances, God he will be ordinances to us." This sen- 
tence contains the highest form of spiritualism. But 
this could not be acceptable at a period, when religion 
was so identified with the ordinances, faith with its sym- 
bols, and worship with usages, that whenever the latter 
were removed or neglected, the former were thought to 
be destroyed. Our fathers were remarkable for the 
most punctilious reverence for the established modes of 
expressing and cultivating the religion of the soul. 
They knew not, therefore, how to tolerate the senti- 
ments of Mr. Wheelwright. The sermon, which ad- 
vanced such sentiments, would be accounted bold in any 
4 



26 

age. Ill the age when the preacher hved, it was con- 
sidered an affront to the civil authorities, and was pro- 
nounced, by the highest tribunal known in the colony, 
seditious. And the author was accordingly banished. 
But if we regard the circumstances of those times, 
the motives which brought our fathers into these dis- 
tant parts of the earth, and the state generally of the 
religious world, we shall not, I think, fail to perceive 
that the Antinomian controversy grew very naturally 
out of those circumstances. The Puritan settlers of 
New England had left their native land, and had with 
difficulty made for themselves " a lodge in the vast 
wilderness." Beneath forests which had never known 
the woodman's axe, but had been left to fulfil their cen- 
tennial hfe, if perchance the " strong wind " of God 
allowed them to waste by slow decay, and resolve them- 
selves into their original dust ; among rocks which had 
never echoed the strokes of man's art, which has since 
forced its way, through those granite gates, to the se- 
cret chambers of the earth, and brought out hidden 
treasures for the reward of industry ; — into the midst 
of such desolate scenes had our pilgrim fathers come to 
seek a retreat, where they might enjoy, undisturbed, 
their faith, and a field on whose virgin soil they might 
scatter the seed of new institutions in church and in 
state. They had in fact, although not professedly, per- 
haps not with a clear and full consciousness of their 
true position, but in fact, they had separated themselves 
from the Church of England ; their mother church in 
whose bosom they had been nourished, and to which they 
could not but look back with fond and yearning hearts,* 

* See the touching and beautiful address, at parting, of the Governor and 
company of the Massachusetts colony, to their brethren in and of the Church 



27 

" ever acknowledging that such hope and part as 
they had obtained in the common salvation, they had 
received in her bosom, and sucked it from her breasts," 
and expressing the wish, " that their heads and hearts 
may be fountains of tears for the everlasting welfare of 
their English brethren, when they should be in their poor 
cottages in the wilderness." All this was natural, and 
was, doubtless, as sincerely felt, as it was beautifully ex- 
pressed. But they had, in fact, cut themselves off from 
the institutions, civil and religious, of their native coun- 
try. An ocean rolled between them and those institu- 
tions. They were subjected to new influences. The 
customs and modes of thinking, which had formerly sur- 
rounded them, and which had swayed, with a subtle 
and imperceptible influence, their daily and hourly life, 
were now absent. They were Puritans, and if true to 
the principle indicated by the name of their sect, they 
could not adopt the old formulas of thought, the old 
modes of worship, the old ceremonies and institutions, 
which, in their view, were all corrupt and needed re- 
form. They must, therefore, in a great measure, com- 
mence anew. And they had no pattern to work by in 
church or state, except what was furnished in the Scrip- 
tures, or such as their own ingenuity could devise. Mr. 
Wheelwright preached at this place, and the Antino- 
mian controversy raged, soon after the commencement 
of the colony, when as yet everything was an experi- 
ment; before the minds of men had melted together 
into a firm mass, under the influence of common prin- 
ciples of belief, and established institutions. It was a 

of England, signed by Winthrop, Coddington, and others, on board the 
Arbella, April 7, 1630. 



28 

transition period in society. Individual minds had been 
freed from the restraints of universally acknowledged 
principles, and set to work fervently, each one for 
itself; each one teeming with thoughts and projects, 
and seeking, in his own way and according to his 
measure, to realize the idea for which all had come out 
from the beaten paths and cleared regions of civilized 
life to the unbroken stillness and rude spaces of a new 
world. For these reasons the time of the Antinomian 
controversy is, to the philosophical reader, one of the 
most interesting periods in the history of our country. 
Under that hard theological phraseology, which to 
many, doubtless, proves " a stumbhng-block, and a rock 
of offence," there may be traced the working of great 
principles * in religion and politics, which were, even at 
so early a period, struggling to express themselves, and 
to take shape, and which have since been unfolded, and 
have already resulted in consequences most momentous 
to us and to our posterity. 

In fact the whole controversy was a struggle, in which 
were asserted anew the rights of the spiritual principle 
in man's nature. Faith and works, in theological lan- 
guage, are terms that correspond to two different forms 
of character, founded either upon personal conviction, 
or upon servile imitation ; a mere conformity to cus- 
toms and established ways of thinking, on the one side, 
or an independent sense of right and duty in the soul, 
on the other side. This is the ground upon which the 

* In the discussions, that grew out of Antinomianism, the principles 
of religious liberty are said to have been evolved and clearly stated, by 
Henry Vane ; to whom therefore has been awarded tlie liigli lionor of being 
the earliest champion of civil and religious freedom. — See UpharrCs Life of 
f^ane. 



29 

battles of successive systems of religion and philosophy 
have been fought age after age, and we may pre- 
sume that it will continue to be so. Go back as far as 
the most ancient historical documents, the Scriptures, 
will carry you, and you find the contest ever to have 
been between the spiritual principle in man's soul, and 
mere blind, unquestioning, mechanical conformity to 
usages and institutions, an irrational cleaving to institu- 
tions, long after the breath of life has gone from them, 
and when they are only fit to be buried out of sight. 

Take, for illustration, the very first sacrifices of 
which any account has been preserved. " Cain brought 
of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. 
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, 
and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto 
Abel and to his oftering ; but unto Cain and to his of- 
fering he had not respect." In the brief notice which 
the old Scriptures give us of that early transaction, the 
particular reasons are not assigned for the favor which 
was shown to one of these brethren, whilst the service 
of the other was rejected. But we cannot hesitate for 
a moment to assign the true reason. One of those 
acts was performed simply because it was enjoined, and 
therefore not to be omitted, while the other was a volun- 
tary expression of the soul of the worshipper. In either 
case the mere act was nothing, of no account, except 
as it served to express and give form to the sentiment 
within. If it was the soul's act it was accepted. 

Again, — we come upon the case of Abraham. And 
for what is he remarkable ? With what (juality is his 
name ever associated? Faith, — he is the " father of 
the faithful." From a country of idolaters, and a genera- 
tion of superstitious imitators, this noble non-conform- 



30 

ist, this first of religious pilgrims, this earliest assertor 
of the rights of man's spiritual nature, came forth, at 
the divine call, from the home of his brethren and 
fathers, and " sojourned in a strange land." It was to 
vindicate the rights of conscience ; to seek for a place, 
no matter how desolate its natural aspect, no matter 
how little it might bear of old familiar resemblances, 
where the most sacred sentiment in man's soul might 
have liberty to expand, and to take what shape, and to 
speak in what tones it might choose. 

Once more, — carry your thoughts forward many 
years from the time of Abraham. The Israelites, his 
descendants, have increased to a vast host ; have been 
brought out from Egypt under the conduct of Moses, 
and have been settled in the promised land ; that land 
which the faith of their pilgrim father, Abraham, had 
led him to take possession of long before. The law 
has been given from Sinai. The civil and religious 
polity of the nation has been established. Institutions 
have grown up, and generation after generation has 
been born and educated, and their characters formed 
under these institutions. And in proportion to the 
punctilious respect and veneration, paid by the Israelites 
to their national institutions, is their want of faith, their 
entire lack of soul-religion. In this state of Jewish 
society appeared the company of the prophets, the in- 
spired vindicators of a spiritual religion, the great re- 
formers, not so much of the abstract truths held by the 
national intellect, as of the spirit of the national wor- 
ship, and the principles of the national morality. They 
were, in the midst of a generation of formalists, the 
spiritualists of their age. They taught, O with what 
words of scorching rebuke and inspiring eloquence, the 



31 

great lesson which their contemporaries most needed, 
and which they were so slow to understand, that institu- 
tions have no life, except what is breathed into them 
from the fervent and devout soul of the worshipper ; 
that the sacrifices which they laid upon their ahars 
were but a cruel mockery, and the mitred and stoled 
priest was officiating in a vain show, unless those sac- 
rifices were the sincere expression of humble and grate- 
ful hearts, and the priest was a mouth to the congrega- 
tion, to give utterance to their faith and piety. 

Advance forward still farther in the train of the ages, 
and you come to the most important era in the history 
of our race, the birth of the Saviour, and the introduc- 
tion of his religion into the world. And what is the 
leading, the vital principle of this divine religion ? Its 
great peculiarity consists in the vindication it so trium- 
phantly makes of the spiritual principle in man. It is 
a soul-religion, not only as distinguished from forms and 
rites, but also and still more, as distinguished from a 
decent exterior, from a mere prudential conformity of 
the life to traditions and usages. It seeks to regenerate 
man ; and this regeneration can only be effected by 
penetrating, as it does, with its light into the mind, and 
with its purity into the heart, and by setting up its king- 
dom within. The very first controversies, which this 
divine religion gave rise to, were conducted by the great 
Apostle of the Gentiles with the Judaizing Christians 
(as they were called) who still clung to what the apos- 
tle, in his strong, emphatic language, called the " beg- 
garly elements " of morals and religion. And it was 
the exposition of that primitive interpreter of the Gos- 
pel of Jesus, which settled the foundation principle of 
our religion to be faith, or conviction in the soul. It 



was in the midst ot" such controversies that our rehgion 
had its birth, and by the divine strength of this princi- 
ple achieved its earhest triumphs. 

Nor have the illustrations of the great principle we 
are considering been exhausted. Go forward with me, 
Christian hearers, once more ; follow the course of our 
religion from the time when it lay in the manger at 
Bethlehem, worshipped in its germ and promise by the 
wise of the earth, through the controversies which it 
held with the schools of philosophy, the persecutions 
which it met at the hand of power, the martyrdoms that 
crowned and glorified its meek confessors ; until it was 
graciously received up, by imperial condescension, to 
sit by the side of the Ceesars, on the throne of the 
world. From that day Satan triumphed, for a season, 
over Christ. The church was indeed exalted inhuman 
estimation. But its locks of strength were shorn off', as 
it lay sleeping through the night of centuries, in the 
harlot lap of worldly prosperity. Follow on, in imagi- 
nation, until we reach the time, and a world-era that 
time is, of Martin Luther, that great man ; great, not 
by reason of any offices he bore, or of inherited do- 
minion, but great in the power of simple, unadorned 
Christian manhood. When he stood up to confront kings, 
with almost every hand and heart in Christendom against 
him, what was the instrument which he wielded with so 
much success ? What was the word he uttered, that went 
with so much power to the souls of men? What, in 
fine, was the principle of the reformation ? " Justifi- 
cation by faith." This was the doctrine, this the prin- 
ciple, that gave him the victory over the mightiest spir- 
itual tyranny that has ever oppressed humanity. The 
Reformation was a re-vindication of the rights of the 



33 

soul. Religion had been reduced to a succession of 
outward observances, in which was mingled no faith. 
Slavish submission to authority, and the mechanical, 
superstitious performance of outward acts, without any 
reference to thought, sentiment, or principle, constituted 
the religion of the Christian world. It was by the prin- 
ciple of faith, by setting forth anew the spiritual char- 
acter of the Gospel, that Luther accomplished his 
gigantic, and to worldly calculations, hopeless work. 
The works, to which, under the corrupt system of Po- 
pery, men had been taught to attach ideas of merit, 
were of no real, intrinsic worth. The only god that 
men realized was the Pope ; the only law they feared 
the canons of the church ; and their only morality con- 
sisted in conformity to superstitious usages and arbitrary 
appointments. The principle on which Luther depend- 
ed, and which in fact insured his success, and which in 
theological phraseology was termed Justification by faith, 
went to base character upon the only sure foundation, 
a spiritual principle in the soul ; it broke up the reve- 
rence which had been superstitiously bestowed upon 
human authority ; it set the human mind at liberty from 
the bondage in which it had been held so long; it 
brought out the worth of the individual, and laid the 
foundation of the high civilization, freedom, and pros- 
perity of Protestant Christendom. 

The Puritans were the fruit which the Reformation 
produced in England. Their principle was to " carry 
out the work of the Reformation ; " to purify Christian- 
ity yet more from the corruptions which had adhered 
to it in the course of ages. The noble sentiment of 
Robinson, the father of Plymouth church, w^as " that 
more light, as he was verily assured, would yet break 
5 



34 

forth from God's word ; " and however he might reve- 
rence sucli men as Luther and Calvin, he would not 
yet stop where they had finished, but would go on 
wherever the guiding star of God's truth should lead 
the inquiring mind. It was not, therefore, strange that, 
under such circumstances, the Antinomian controversy 
should have sprung up. It was not set in motion by 
vulgar, ignorant fanatics, the licentiousness of whose 
practice gave a bad odor to their high-toned sentiments. 
It was promoted by such men as Vane and Coddington. 
The most ample and honorable testimony was uniformly 
borne, even by those who differed from him in senti- 
ment, to the abilities and worth of Mr. Wheelwright. 
Mrs. Hutchinson, who bore a leading part in the 
excitement of the times, was acknowledged on all sides 
to be a woman of uncommon powers. And even Mr. 
Cotton, the gifted teacher of Boston First Church, had 
too much sympathy with the new sentiments, to lose 
his respect for those who had urged those sentiments 
too boldly. The whole controversy was founded in an 
attempt to give new vitality and spirituality to the re- 
ligion of the times ; to resist the tendency, which is 
ever at work, to rely too much upon the outward mani- 
festations oY religious principle, to the neglect of the 
principle itself in the soul. Undoubtedly this attempt 
ran into extravagances of sentiment and conduct. But 
still the attempt was the same in kind, and had the same 
object, as in former times the many instances we have 
considered ; — and the remark, therefore, may be re- 
peated, which has already been made, that the struggle 
always has been, and we may presume, always will 
continue to be, between faith and works ; between the 
principle of religion in the soul, and the manifestation 



3.5 

of it in conduct ; between the sentiment of worship, 
and the institutions which are estabhshed to nourish and 
to express that sentiment ; between the Uving spirit of 
faith and piety, and dead mechanical conformity to fixed 
usages and forms. Where faith is exclusively cultivated, 
religion easily degenerates into enthusiasm, and unwise, 
unprofitable zeal. And on the other hand, where too 
much stress is laid upon traditions and usages and out- 
ward morality, to the neglect of faith, or the principle 
of religion in the soul, hypocrisy and formality assume 
the place of true righteousness, which is briefly de- 
scribed by our Saviour as consisting in love to God and 
love to man. 

But the length to which this discourse has been 
already extended admonishes me to relieve your pa- 
tience. I have brought you, my hearers, no farther 
forward than 1639, Sept 17, (Old Style) the date of the 
gathering of a distinct, independent church at Mount 
Wollaston. Our attention has been confined to the 
brief, but interesting period which preceded the day 
whose Two Hundredth Anniversary we this day wel- 
come. And here for the present I will close my re- 
marks, where many of my hearers probably expected 
I should begin. 

But we are brought, in conclusion, to the very point 
of time, about which the interesting associations of the 
present occasion cluster. Two hundred years ! how 
much do those words contain and suggest ! What an 
amount of blessings, civil, political, and religious, ac- 
cumulated by the wisdom, the experience, and the virtue 
of two centuries, through the labors, the tears,, the 
prayers, and the sacrifices of our fathers, crowns the 
present hour ! How dependent are we, for all that we 
most prize, upon those who have lived, and thought, 



36 

and purposed, and struggled before us ! How insig- 
nificant is the best that the individual man can effect ! 
How has God ordained that the highest good we can 
possess on earth shall be inherited good, the aggregate 
result of the knowledge and virtues of generation after 
generation ! How are we brought back to the solemn 
admonition of the text : 

" Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in 
not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, 
and his statutes, which I command thee this day : 

Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast 
built goodly houses, and dwelt therein ; 

Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the 
Lord thy God : 

And thou say in thine heart. My power and the might 
of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. 

But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God." 




See Appendix T. 




DISCOURSE II 



St. John iv. 20. 

OUR FATHERS WORSHIPPED IN THIS MOUNTillf. 

In the former part of the day, we brought forward 
the ecclesiastical history of this place to the time when 
a distinct independent church was gathered at Mount 
Wollaston. Our fathers had " worshipped in this moun- 
tain," as we have seen, some few years before the time 
from which we date the origin of our church. Those 
years, though few in number, were years of great in- 
terest. The individual who preached here, and several 
of those who adopted his sentiments, were distinguish- 
ed for talents and worth, and are known in the history 
of the world. 



See Appendix T. 



58 

In the Journal of Gov. Winthrop, under date of 
September 17, 1639, the origin of this church is thus 
mentioned : " Mount Wollaston had been formerly laid 
to Boston ; but many poor men having lots assigned 
them there, and not able to use those lands and dwell 
still in Boston, they petitioned the town first to have a 
minister there, and after to have leave to gather a church 
there, which the town at length (upon some small com- 
position) gave way unto. So this day they gathered 
a church after the usual manner, and chose one Mr. 
Tompson, a very gracious, sincere man. and Mr. Flynt, 
a godly man also, their ministers." 

Six members only whose names are subscribed to the 
covenant,* which is given in the first edition of Mr. 
Hancock's Century Discourses, together with the pas- 
tor and teacher, composed the small church gathered 
at this place. " Mr. Tompson was ordained eight 
days after the church was gathered, namely, September 
24, 1639, and Mr. Flynt the 17th of March following."! 
This church was the fifteenth in order of time that was 
gathered in the Massachusetts colony. According to 
Mr. Hancock, the first deacons J were Mr. Samuel Bass, 
who had been dismissed and recommended to them 
from the church in Roxbury, July 5, 1640; and Mr. 
Richard Brackett, who was ordained, July 21, 1642. in 

* Sec Appendix B. 

f So says Mr. Hancock. What his source of information was I cannot 
determine, unless it was the manuscript record in the hand-writing of Mr. 
Flynt, the first teacher of the church, which he mentions in one of his notes. 
Winthrop states that Mr. Tompson was ordained, November 19, 1G39. See 
Appendix I. Mr. Hancock says too that the church was gathered, Septem- 
ber 16; but the authority of Wintlirop, who was contemporary witli the oc- 
currence, is to be preferred. 

\ See Appendix H. 



39 

addition to these two, I find in the Boston First Church 
Records, under date of 12th July, 1610, this entry ; " Our 
brother Alexander Winchester, upon the desire of the 
church of Christ at Mount Wollaston, now called Brain- 
tree, is recommended and dismissed unto them for 
their help in the office of deacon." 

Some uncertainty exists as to the precise time when 
Mr. Tompson * came over to this country. There 
was a Rev. William Tompson, probably the same per-** 
son, member of the church of Dorchester in 1636. 
Previous to his settlement at Mount Wollaston, he had 
been very useful at Acomenticus (now York in the State 
of Maine). He had been in the exercise of the min- 
istry before he left England, having been settled in 
Lancashire. In the year 1642, upon an application 
of sundry persons in Virginia, that ministers of the 
Congregational order might be sent out to them, Mr. 
Tompson was selected, with two others, to go on this 
mission. Their preaching seems to have made a good 
impression upon many; but the following year they 
were obliged to leave and return home, by reason of 
an order of the government of the Virginia colony, 
" that such as would not conform to the ceremonies of 
the Church of England should by such a day depart 
the country." While absent on this mission, Mr. Tomp- 
son's wife died ; and in the first Book of Records of 
Roxbury Church is a notice of the event in the shape 
of verses, supposed to be addressed to the surviving hus- 
band by his deceased partner. Some of the verses are 
free from the conceits that entered so largely into the 
poetry of that day, and are marked by simplicity and 

* See Appendix I. 



40 

natural expression of feeling. In 1645, Mr. Tompson 
was appointed to accompany the forces raised by the 
colonies, for the war at that time threatened by the In- 
dians. It was intended that he should preach to the 
troops during the war ; but the dangers that threatened 
the colony in that quarter were averted, and there was 
therefore no necessity for his absence from home. Mr. 
Tompson is spoken of, by those who have written of 
our early history, as a " powerful and successful preach- 
er," and quite a pillar in these New England churches. 
He is also said to have been, in his day, an author of 
some repute ; but nothing is mentioned respecting his 
writings, except that he composed certain prefaces for 
books written by others, none of which have I suc- 
ceeded in discovering. He was constitutionally in- 
clined to melancholy, which seems to have embittered 
a considerable portion of his life, and to have abridged 
his usefulness. He died, December 10th, 1666. In the 
Roxbury Church Records is the following notice, which 
adds a few particulars to our knowledge of him : "Mr. 
WilHam Tompson, Pastor to the Church at Braintree, 
departed this life in the 69th year of his age. He had 
been held under the power of melancholy for the space 
of eight years. During which time he had divers lucid 
intervals and sweet revivings, especially the week 
before he died, in so much that he essayed to go to the 
church, and administer the Lord's Supper to them ; but 
his body was so weak that he could neither go nor ride." 
Thus died the first pastor of this church. He was in- 
terred here, and a stone, bearing an inscription to his 
memory, is to be seen in our burying place. 

Mr. Henry Flyiit, who was associated with Mr. Tomp- 
son as teacher of the church, came to this country in 



41 

the year 1635, and his name is found that year among 
the members of the Boston First Church. He was or- 
dained, 17th March, 1639-40, and died, April 27, 1668, 
having survived the pastor a little over one year. He 
was father to the Rev. Josiah Flynt, who was pastor of 
Dorchester church, and grandfather of Henry Flynt Esq., 
who is well known as havins; been a tutor in Harvard 
University " upwards of fifty-five years, and about sixty 
years a fellow of the corporation." The historian of 
the University remarks, that " most of the educated 
men in New England, during a considerable part of the 
last century, had been under the instruction of this re- 
markable tutor, or of those whom he taught." * 

The first race of ministers in this church, those wiio 
had been born in England and who had exercised their 
ministry there, had now passed away ; and their suc- 
cessors were all educated in this country. To the 
death of Mr. Flynt a period of nearly twenty-nine years 
had elapsed since the gathering of the church. A (e\v 
months after the church was gathered, and the two first 
ministers were settled, namely. May 13th, 1640, the pe- 
tition of those who resided at the Mount was granted, 
and they were incorporated as a town, according to the 
agreement made with the town of Boston. The name 
of the new town, Braintree, was, doubtless, derived 
from the Braintree company, already mentioned, which 
in 1632 had begun to sit down here, and removed 
hence to Newtown, afterwards Cambridge. This com- 
pany came from Braintree, in Essex County, England. 
The celebrated Mr. Hooker, who the next year came 
over and joined them at Newtown, had been ther min- 

* See Peirce's History of Harvard University. 

6 



42 

ister before they left England. Among the names of 
that company, as given in the History of Cambridge,* 
several occur that are at the present day famihar in this 
vicinity. And in order to account for the name of 
Braintree f being given to this town, we may either 
adopt the suggestion, that has been made by high au- 
thority, that that company remained here and did not re- 
move to Newtown ; or if we think the historical evidence 
conclusive for their removal, we may suppose that sev- 
eral of them returned hither, when a kw years after- 
wards they of Newtown made complaint to the General 
Court for want of room, and when the great body of 
the company, together with their pastor, emigrated to 
Connecticut River, and laid the foundation of Hart- 
ford. It is certainly what we should expect, that some 
place among the new settlements should bear the name 
of a company, that had for their minister so celebrated 
a man as Hooker. And what place more likely to re- 
ceive the appellation, than that which offered the first 
resting place to these Pilgrims, after their arrival in New 
England ? 

It would gratify a very natural curiosity, could we 
know, more particularly than we do, the condition of 
the town and church here, during the twenty-nine years 
that elapsed between the gathering of the church and 
the death of the teacher. But the records of the town 
furnish only scanty materials, and no church records of 
that early period are known to be in existence. In one 
of the volumes of the Massachusetts Historical Collec- 



* See Dr. Holmes's History of Cambridge, in Mass. Historical Col- 
lections, 
f See Appendix C. 



43 

tions is a Report,* signed by three individuals, who 
were appointed by the General Court a comniittee, to 
inquire concerning the maintenance of the ministers of 
the churches in the county of Suffolk, to which county 
this town then belonged. They met at Braintree on 
the 22d of July, 1657, and collected the information 
they wished from the deacons of the neighboring 
churches. Of Braintree they made report, that they 
were informed by the deacons of Braintree, " that Mr. 
Flynt and Mr. Tompson are each of them allowed £55 
per annum, paid generally in such things as themselves 
take up and accept of from the inhabitants ; paid ordi- 
narily yearly or within the year, the town being about 
80 families, Mr. Tompson's family being three persons, 
Mr. Flynt's family being about seven or eight persons. 
These elders depend generally upon public contribu- 
tion." 

After the death of the pastor and teacher, the 
church here remained without any settled minister 
above four years.f There were unhappy divisions in 
the church, which seem to have occasioned great dis- 
turbances, and to have been a subject of concern to 
the neighboring churches. From a manuscript journal, 
with the use of which I have been favored, kept by the 
Rev. Josiah Flynt, son of the teacher of this church, 
some light is thrown upon the history of the interval. It 
appears from this manuscript, that Mr. Flynt preached to 
this church for some time, and, together with a Mr. 
Bulkley, actually received a call to settle, and that an 
offer was made of £60 per annum to each, besides cer- 
tain privileges ; but the divisions that rent the church 

* Sec Appendix I. f Sec Appendix L. 



44 

into parties prevented any settlement, and Mr. Flynt 
soon after accepted a call to become pastor of the 
neighboring church of Dorchester. 

At length Mr. Moses Fiske * was sent hither, by or- 
der of the County Court held at Boston, " to improve 
his labors," as the order expresses it, " in preaching the 
word at Braintree, until the church there agree and ob- 
tain supply for the work of the ministry, or this court 
take further order." Mr. Fiske accordingly came, and 
preached for the first time, December 3, 1671. His 
preaching appears to have been acceptable ; for several 
of the brethren visited him the day after the Sabbath, 
and thanked him for his compliance with the order of 
the court ; and on February 24th following, he receiv- 
ed a unanimous call to settle in this place, which he 
accepted. He was ordained, September 11, 1672. 
With him our Church Records commence. In them it 
is recorded, that at his ordination Mr. Eliot prayed and 
gave the charge, Mr. Oxenbridge and the deacons 
joined in the laying on hands, Mr. Thacher of Boston 
gave the right hand of fellowship. It is not mentioned 
who preached on the occasion, but it is probable that 
Mr. Fiske preached himself, in conformity with a prac- 
tice that prevailed at that early period in New England. 

Mr. Fiske was the son of the Rev. John Fiske, who 
came from England before 1637, was a physician and 
minister, and was the first minister of Wenham and 
Chelmsford, in which latter place he died, 1677. His 
son Moses, the third minister of Braintree, was gradu- 
ated at Harvard College in 1662. His ministry in this 
town was a long one, extending over thirty-six years, 

* See Appendix M. 



45 

and he appears to have enjoyed and retained the affec- 
tionate respect of his flock. He died here, August 10, 
1708 ; and his ashes repose beside his predecessors. 
He left a numerous family behind him. One of his 
sons, Samuel Fiske, was afterwards settled as minister 
of the first church in Salem. I do not find that Mr. 
Fiske published anything during his life. He preached 
the sermon before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
Company, in the year 1694 ; the manuscript of which 
sermon is in the library of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society. 

It may be mentioned as a fact honorable to the dis- 
position of the inhabitants of this town, during the 
period we have just been passing over, and some indi- 
cation too of the growth of the place, that among the 
contributions made in various places, for the erection of 
a new edifice for the college at Cambridge, which edi- 
fice was completed in 1677, the town of Braintree 
furnished the sum of £87 14s. 6d., there being only 
four towns in the colony that contributed a larger sum 
for the same purpose. 

From a manuscript Diary * kept by a Mr. Fairfield, 
an intelligent mechanic, who resided in this town during 
part of the ministry of Mr. Fiske, I have selected a no- 
tice of this minister, which is the more valuable as a tes- 
timony to his good qualities from the fact, that it was 
inserted in a private diary, kept by a humble individual, 
and was not meant to be made public. " This excel- 
lent person was ordained pastor of the church in Brain- 
tree, in September 1672, in Avhich sacred employment 
he continued till his dying day, a diligent, faithful labor- 

* See Appendix M for some account of tliis Diary. 



46 

er in the harvest of Jesus Christ ; studious in the Holy 
Scriptures, having an extraordinary gift in prayer above 
many good men ; and in preaching equal to the most, 
inferior to few ; zealously diligent for God and the good 
of men ; one who thought no labor, cost, or suffering 
too dear a price for the good of his people. His pub- 
lic preaching was attended with convincing light and 
clearness, and powerful, affectionate application ; and 
his private oversight was performed with humility and 
unwearied diligence. He lived till he was near sixty- 
five years of age, beloved and honored of the most 
that knew him. On the 18th of July, being the Lord's 
day, he preached all day in public, but was not well. 
The distemper continued and proved a malignant fever. 
So that little hopes of recovery appearing, his church 
assembled together, and earnestly besought the great 
Shepherd of the sheep, that they might not be deprived 
of him. But heaven had otherwise determined ; for on 
Tuesday, August 10th, he died about one in the after- 
noon, and was, with suitable solemnity and great lamen- 
tation, interred in Braintree in his own tomb, the 12th 
day." 

Such is the affectionate tribute paid to the memory 
of a faithful minister of Christ by one of his unpretend- 
ing parishioners. How much more valuable such a 
witness borne to the solid worth of a man, than the 
most studied eulogy, composed according to the rules 
of art, and inscribed for the world's eye on costly mon- 
uments ! 

To Mr. Fiske succeeded in the ministry in this place 
Mr. Joseph Marsh.* Mr. Marsh was graduated at 

* See Appendix N. 



47 

Harvard College in 1705. In 1706 and 1707 he was 
employed as teacher of a school in Hingham, and was 
unanimously called to the ministry in this place, and 
ordained, May 18th, 1709. " He continued," says Mr. 
Hancock, " his faithful labors here till his translation." 
His death took place, March 8, 1725 - 6, in the 41st year 
of his age, and 17th of his ministry. His remains lie 
in the same tomb with those of his immediate prede- 
cessor, Mr. Fiske. His son kept a private school in 
this town, and the late President Adams and Josiah 
Quincy Jr. were among his pupils. 

My. Marsh's successor in the ministry was Mr. John 
Hancock,* whose father was minister of Lexington, and 
who to a venerable old age retained great influence in 
all the neighboring churches. Mr. Hancock was settled 
here, November 2, 1726, and continued in the exercise 
of his ministry until his decease, which took place. May 
7, 1744. He died in the 42d year of his age, having 
discharged his sacred duties nearly eighteen years. A 
sermon was preached at his funeral by Dr. Gay of 
Hingham, who thus speaks of the qualities of the de- 
ceased pastor : "It is the death of a prophet, and of the 
son of a prophet we are bewailing ; of an able minister 
of the New Testament, taken away from us in the midst 
of his days and growing serviceableness. — 

" The Father of lights furnished him with good gifts, 
natural and acquired, for the work of the ministry : 
his prayers and sermons were judiciously composed, and 
gravely uttered in the language of Holy Scripture, and 
with a moving pathos ; discovering a large and inti- 
mate acquaintance with the most substantial things of 

* See Appendix O. 



48 

religion, and breathing a spirit of piety toward God, 
and of love to the souls of men, 

" As a wise and skilful pilot hath he steered you a right 
and safe course, in the late troubled sea of ecclesiasti- 
cal affairs, guarding you against dangerous rocks, on 
the one hand and on the other ; so that you have 
escaped the errors and enthusiasm which some, and the 
infidehty and indifferency in matters of religion, which 
others have fallen into." 

The preacher, in the latter portion of the passage 
I have just quoted, alludes to the excitement which had 
been occasioned in this community, by the visit, to 
New England, of the celebrated Whitfield, whose ex- 
traordinary eloquence and zeal roused an interest in 
the subject of religion as extravagant and enthusiastic, 
as the previous torpor had been lamentable. Mr. Han- 
cock seems to have evinced wisdom, fortitude, and 
faithfulness in the discharge of his duties through that 
trying season. 

Mr. Hancock was singularly favored in some of the 
circumstances of his life and ministry. He transmit- 
ted to his son a name, which has been rendered, by 
that son's conspicuous position and acknowledged vir- 
tues, illustrious in the eyes of the world, and which 
must ever be repeated in connexion with the history of 
Freedom in this Western Continent. And with the 
water of Christian baptism, he gave the name of John 
to another individual, who stood before kings and 
princes, the fearless and persevering advocate of his 
country's rights, who raised himself, with the consent of 
millions, to the people's throne, and who fell asleep in 
an honored old age, with the glad shouts ringing in his 
ears of a nation he had helped to redeem. 



49 

During tlie ministry of" Mr. Hancock a new and 
commodious, and for the time elegant place * of wor- 
ship was erected by his society, which was dedicated by 
the pastor in 1732, and which, after standing nearly a 
century, was taken down, when the more spacious and 
costly edifice, in which we are now assembled, was erect- 
ed. In 1739, at the conclusion of the first century 
from the gathering of this ancient church, he collected 
the scattered memorials of its history, which I have on 
the present occasion done but little more than to repeat, 
and uttered those fervent prayers and benedictions, 
which, we will trust in God, have, amidst many imper- 
fections incident to humanity, been in some good mea- 
sure answered and realized, in the multitudes that since 
his time have met within the walls of the former or latter 
house, to hear the words of life and the messages of 
salvation ; who have sat down together at the Lord's 
table to commemorate the love of a dying Redeemer ; 
or Avho have been brought hither, in unconscious infan- 
cy or more unconscious death, to receive upon their 
brows the sign of the covenant, or to be dismissed, with 
the voice of supplication, through the gates of death, to 
the mansions of departed spirits, and to the presence of 
their God. 

After the death of Mr. Hancock, the pulpit of this 
church was unsupplied by a settled pastor, for the space 
of a year and a half or more. The first candidate^ 
whose name is mentioned in the Precinct Records was 
Mr. Stevens. Mr. Benjamin Stevens, after supplying 
the pulpit several Sundays, was, by a unanimous vote, 
passed on the 22d of October, 1744, elected pastor of 

* See Appendix. P. 

7 



50 

this church, and invited to settle here in the ministry. 
He saw reason to dechne the invitation. The call was 
repeated at a subsequent meeting, and was again 
respectfully declined. At another meeting, held 25th 
February, 1744-5, three gentlemen were put in nomi- 
nation, Mr. Vinal, Mr. Newman, and Mr. Stevens. 
Mr. Stevens now had the largest number of votes ; but 
it was apparent that there was a division in the minds of 
the people, and he, in his reply, proposed that the mat- 
ter of his settlement, in this state of things, should be 
laid before a council of clergymen of the neighboring 
churches. The result was a final reply from Mr. Ste- 
vens in the negative. On the 29t]i of July, 1745, the 
precinct wisely voted that they would employ but one 
candidate, and that an invitation to supply the pulpit 
should be given to Mr. Lemuel Briant.* Mr. B riant 
was soon after elected minister of this church by an 
unanimous vote. He accepted the invitation in a let- 
ter which stands recorded in the North Precinct Re- 
cords, and he was ordained, December 4, 1745. Mr. 
Briant was a native of Scituate, Massachusetts, where 
his ancestors had resided from a very early period in the 
history of the country. He was graduated at Harvard 
College in 1739. He has been pronounced " a man of 
extraordinary powers ; " and the writings which I have 
met with from his pen prove that this praise is not 
without solid grounds. His sentiments in theology 
were liberal ; and although the great majority of his 
society appear to have gone along with him cordially, 
there were some who were disturbed by the boldness 
with which he attacked current doctrines, and more 
than all, perhaps, disturbed by the singularities which 

* See Appendix Q. 



51 

were only natural to liim. In the year 1749 he publish- 
ed a sermon, the title of which was, " The Absurdity and 
Blasphemy of depreciating Moral Virtue ; a sermon 
preached at the West Church in Boston, June 18, 1749," 
from the text, Isaiah Ixiv. 6 ; — " All our righteousnesses 
are as filthy rags ; " — in which it was the object of the 
preacher to vindicate the text from the common, but, 
as he esteemed it, false interpretation, as if the Prophet 
meant to condemn, as utterly worthless and despicable, 
all the righteousness which consisted in the best en- 
deavors of the best men ; whereas he explained the 
Prophet as speaking in reference to the whole commu- 
nity, and asserting that the Jewish nation, as a nation, 
was destitute of that, which, instead of being worthless 
and despicable, it was most desirable and essential that 
men should acquire. This sermon could not fail to be 
a signal for a theological controversy ; and accordingly 
one began, and was carried on between Mr. Briant, on 
the one side, and Mr. Niles of the middle precinct in 
Braintree, Mr. Porter of Bridgewater, Mr. Foxcroft of 
Boston, and several others, on the opposite side. A 
sermon, evidently intended as a reply to Mr. Briant, 
was delivered by Mr. Porter in the middle precinct of 
Braintree. To this sermon, which was afterwards print- 
ed, Mr. Briant replied in the form of a letter addressed 
to the author. This letter was answered by Mr. Porter 
and his friends (or attestators, as they were rather sin- 
gularly called). Mr. Briant came before the public 
with a second letter ; and there, I presume, the contro- 
versy rested. One of the opponents of Mr. Briant in 
this controversy took occasion to speak, in a deprecia- 
ting tone, of Dr. Mayhew, whom he scornfully calls the 
intimate friend of the pastor of Braintree First Church. 



52 

1 have already stated that Mr. Briant's sermon on 
moral virtue was printed after having been preached at 
the West Clmrch, Boston, where Dr. Mayhew was the 
settled pastor. It had probably met with a favorable re- 
ception there, which occasioned the publication. But 
the circumstance that was mentioned in a scornful tone 
will excite in the minds of posterity quite another sen- 
timent. To have been the friend of Dr. Mayhew was 
honorable alike to the head and heart of Mr. Briant. 

Mr. Briant is the only one of your ministers, since 
the gathering of this ancient church, whose ashes do 
not repose here. He was dismissed from the pastoral 
care of this church, October 22, 1753, at his own ear- 
nest request that " they would release him from the 
burdens and labors of his office." His health had fail- 
ed him ; and this seems to have occasioned the request, 
which was granted by his society, with thanks to him 
for his labors among them. He died the year follow- 
ing at Hingham, and was buried among his fathers at 
Scituate. 

To Mr. Briant must be awarded the praise of being 
a man of first rate abilities, a bold and clear thinker, 
whose mind had run considerably beyond the prevalent 
sentiments of his day. His sermon on moral virtue 
was a fearless and vigorous exposure of the absurdities 
into which a creed had been pushed, and from which it 
was essential that Christianity should be vindicated, 
in order to save it from the neglect of thinking men. 
And yet it is well for us to remember, that truth in all its 
fulness and beauty is not to be found in the midst of the 
strong and angry feelings, excited by opposition and 
controversy. Truth shuns the confusion and agitation 
of controversy, and loves quiet, calm, long sustained 



ri3 

contemplation, during which all sides of the great theme 
arc deliberately surveyed, and the mind, avoiding ex- 
tremes, attains those well balanced opinions and mod- 
erate sentiments, which are essential features of sound 
philosophy and true religion. 

It may seem strange to you, my hearers, that I should 
bring them together ; but I cannot avoid instituting a 
comparison between Mr. Wheelwright, the first preach- 
er at Mount Wollaston, and Mr. B riant, who, more 
than a century afterwards, ministered to this church. 
Little is hazarded in the assertion, that in point of in- 
tellect they stand in the first class of the New England 
clergy. They were very different, I am well aware, in 
the structure and tendency of their minds, and quite at 
variance in the creeds which they adopted and advo- 
cated, each with so much acuteness, force, and per- 
suasiveness. But it is for this very reason that they 
deserve to be studied in connexion. They were placed 
in somewhat similar circumstances, during the respec- 
tive periods in which they lived. They were both of 
them bold and candid, and of course imprudent, in the 
statement of their honest thoughts. They were both 
of them specimens of minds that resisted the current 
notions and prejudices of their times. They both of them 
incurred odium by the Christian manliness with which 
they opened and pursued the truths that broke upon 
their souls. Their minds ran, it is true, on very different 
lines of thought, and they advocated theories in morals 
and in theology very diverse. But each attacked what he 
considered the leading, most prominent error of his day ; 
and if they were mistaken in respect to their own times, 
the errors which each exposed so thoroughly have pre- 
vailed at one period or another of the Christian church. 



54 

tiach of them undertook to defend and illustrate a 
single feature of the Gospel, and it was that particular 
feature which each supposed to be most in danger of 
being overlooked or undervalued, amidst the peculiar 
prejudices by which he was surrounded. I have an 
impression, my hearers, that a true and rational and 
comprehensive theology might be formed, and in no way 
so well as by uniting together, and harmonizing, and 
holding in this union and harmony, the two opposite 
systems of thought and opinion, which Mr. Wheel- 
wright, on the one hand, and Mr. Briant, on the other 
hand, held and advocated, each so honestly, fearlessly, 
and vigorously ; and it seems to me that never more, 
than in the present age, was such an union as this desir- 
able. If Christianity is to be represented to men as a 
mere collection of prudential maxims, or a round of 
punctilious observances, and if the spiritual character 
of it, its principle of faith, is to be forgotten and laid 
aside, then surely, and in proportion as we see cause to 
fear this result, we may take up the language of the 
first preacher at the Mount, and say : the time of fast- 
ing is come ; the true cause for a fast is present ; Christ 
is removed ; the bridegroom is taken away ; and we 
must mourn. And if, on the other hand, the spiritual 
doctrine is to be so exalted, and refined into such an 
impalpable mysticism, as to hide every practical prin- 
ciple, that ought to sway men's lives and determine 
their characters, in the clouds ; if the doctrine is to 
be so rarefied, that we cannot breathe it, or if, when 
we do inhale it, it can support no vitality ; if it is to 
be pressed so far as to cast derision upon ordinances, 
and to discredit those institutions which have been 
framed in order to build up and strengthen the moral and 



Oij 



religious habits and principles of a community, — I say 
habits and principles, not instincts and impulses ; — then 
surely, with Mr. Briant, we shall be ready to exclaim in 
his nervous language, that " the perfect religion of Je- 
sus, which contains the most refined system of morality 
the world was ever blessed with ; which everywhere con- 
siders us as moral agents, and suspends our whole hap- 
piness upon our personal good behavior, and our pa- 
tient continuance in the ways of well-doing, is turned 
into an idle speculation, a mysterious faith, and a 
groundless recumbency, everything but what in fact it 
is, a doctrine of sobriety, righteousness, and piety." 

Next to Mr. Briant was Mr. VVibird * in the order of 
ministers of this church. In the interval that occurred 
between the dismission of Mr. Briant and the settle- 
ment of Mr. Wibird, Mr. Barnes, afterwards the ec- 
centric and rather distinguished Dr. Barnes of Scituate, 
had received an invitation to settle here, which he saw 
fit to decline twice. Mr. Wibird's ministry was a long 
and a peaceful one. Many of my hearers must remem- 
ber him, and there are probably many present, upon 
whose infant brows he sprinkled the water of Christian 
baptism. The older members of this church will not 
need any attempt of mine to increase the interest, 
which their own vivid remembrances, aided and height- 
ened by the present occasion, must awaken in their 
minds. 

In 1800 your present senior pastor f was associated 
with Mr. Wibird, a short time previous to his decease ; 
and my venerable friend still remains, the living link 
that connects the humble individual, that addresses you, 

■• See Appendix R. t See Appendix S. 



66 

with the long line of shepherds who have watched this 
flock, and who, with a single exception, gave up their 
breath to mingle with the air that had supported their 
life, and laid down their dust to mingle with the soil on 
which they had trodden. 

Brethren and Fathers, after this sketch of the history 
of our church, which although extended has not, I hope, 
been tedious, and however imperfect, not wholly uned- 
ifying, we are brought back to our text. When the 
woman of Samaria said with so much natural feeling, 
"Our fathers worshipped in this mountain," and the 
Saviour replied, that the time would come when they 
should neither in that mountain nor yet at Jerusa- 
lem worship the Father ; he did not, I conceive, intend 
to rebuke the natural sentiment which attaches every 
good heart to the spot, where fathers and fathers' 
fathers have worshipped, in their successive generations ; 
but only to correct and purify and expand the sentiment, 
that it might not degenerate into a superstitious partial- 
ity for a place, to the neglect of God's spiritual attri- 
butes, and his universal presence. And let the sentiment, 
so corrected and expanded, possess our minds. 

And now, if I had the power to call up from their 
resting places, in yonder burying ground, or from more 
distant spots, where two of them lay doAvn to their final 
repose, the bodies of the former pastors and ministers 
of this church ; and if I could call out of the heaven, 
where we trust their spirits dwell, the immortal vital- 
ity that once quickened them, and could bring them in 
ghostly procession up this aisle to this altar, — what 
think ye would be the lessons that would be uttered 
by those ministers of Christ ? Would they not say to 
you ; Preserve the institutions which we, in our day, 



57 

exhorted men to honor. Desert not the sanctuary of 
your fathers. Guard with vigilant caution the sacred 
places where prayer was ever wont to be made. Above 
all, reverence the vital principles of the Gospel. If 
you must renounce our dogmas, do not, O do not re- 
nounce our principles. If you cannot accept our creed 
in every particular, because you have faithfully followed 
the advice of Robinson, the great light which we hon- 
ored and followed, do not, O do not fall from a life of 
piety and Christian righteousness. It must not be. 
I will be assured that this occasion has a meaning to 
your souls, beyond what language can express. I will 
believe that a deep and a holy interest, an interest which 
nothing can destroy, is felt in this ancient church, where 
your fathers came before you, to receive the bread of 
life, and to draw water from the wells of salvation. 

And, in conclusion, may I not say (and will you not, 
one and all, join me in the sentiment ?) to those depart- 
ed shepherds whose repose I have, in idea, disturbed : 
Go back venerated shades, to the quiet chambers, where 
the hands of affection laid you silently and hopefully 
down ; — we will strive to follow in your steps ; and 
we will hope to share with you your glory. 




* See Appendix T. 

8 



APPEND IX. 



APPENDIX. 



A. Page 7. 

On the 29th of September, 1839, which date answered to Sept. 
17, old style, occurred the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the 
gathering of the First Congregational Church in this place. The 
occasion, falling on a Sabbath, was noticed with appropriate ser- 
vices, both parts of the day. The prayer in the forenoon was 
offered by the senior pastor of the church, Rev. Peter Whitney; 
and in the afternoon, by Rev. George Whitney of Roxbury. By a 
special vole of the Church, passed on a previous Sabbath, the Com- 
munion, which would have taken place regularly on the first Sab- 
bath in October, was celebrated at this time, in imitation of the 
course pursued by our predecessors, at the conclusion of the first 
century. In the forenoon the following Hymn, written for the oc- 
casion by the Hon. John Quincy Adams, was sung by the choir. 

THE HOUR GLASS. 

Alas ! how swift the moments fly ! 

How flash the years along ! 
Scarce here, yet gone already by ! * 

The burden of a song. 
See childhood, youth, and manhood pass ; 

And age with furrowed brow : 
Time was — Time shall be, drain the glass — 

But where in Time is now "? 

Time is the measure but of change ; 

No present hour is found, 
The past — the future fill the range 

Of Time's unceasing round. 
Where then is now ? In realms above, 

With God's atoning Lamb, 
In regions of eternal Love, 

Where sits enthroned I Am. 



62 

Then, Pilgrim, let thy joys and tears 

On Time no longer lean ; 
But henceforth all thy hopes and fears 

From Earth's affections wean. 
To God ! let votive accents rise ; 

With truth — with virtue live ; 
So all the bliss that Time denies, 

Eternity shall give. 

The two Psalms that follow were sung in the afternoon. In se- 
lecting them it was thought that the interest attaching to them 
as relics of old times would more than compensate for the rude- 
ness of the versification. They were taken from a copy, bearing 
date 1640, (kindly furnished me by the Rev. Dr. Harris from the 
Library of Massachusetts Historical Society,) of the New England 
version of the Psalms. This was the first book printed in America. 
And this version of the Psalms was, doubtless, used by the Brain- 
tree church soon after it was gathered. 

Psalm 107. Tme — St. Martin's. 

O give ye thanks unto the Lord, 

Because that good is he; 
Because his loving-kindness lasts 

To perpetuity. 

So let the Lord's redeem'd say ; whom 
He freed from th' enemies hands ; 
^ And gather'd them from East and West, 

'■ From South and Northern lands. 

Then did they to Jehovah cry, 

When they were in distress ; 
Who did them set at liberty 

Out of their anguishes. 

In such a way that was most right 

He led them forth also ; 
That to a city which they might 

Inhabit they might go, 

O that men would Jehovah praise 

For his great goodness then; 
And for his workings wonderful 

Unto the sons of men. 



63 



Psalm 102. Tune — Old Hundred. 

My days as shadows tliat decline, 

And like the witlier'd grass am I ; 
But tliou, Lord, dost abide for aye, 

And thy name to eternity. 

Thy years tlu-oughout all ages are, 

Thou hast the Earth's foundation laid 
For elder time : and heavens be 

Tlie work which thine own hands have made. 

They perish shall, but thou shalt stand ; 

They all as garments shall decay ; 
And as a wearing-vestiment. 

Thou slialt them change, and changed are they. 

But thou art ev'n the same; thy years 

They never shall consumed be ; 
Thy servants' children shall abide. 

And their seed, 'stablish'd before thee. 

The last of these Psalms was read and sung, line by line, accord- 
ing to the ancient practice. The writer feels greatly indebted to 
the choir for their kind compliance with his suggestions in regard 
to the music, on this occasion, and for their very excellent perfor- 
mances both parts of the day. 



B. Pages 7, 38. 



The names subscribed to the covenant at the gathering of the 
church are as follow : 

William Tompson, (Pastor,) 
Henry Flynt, (Teacher,) 
George Rose, 
Stephen Kinsley, (Elder,) 
.ToHN Dassett, 
William Potter, 
Martin Saunders, 
Gregory Belcher. 



64 

C. Pages IG, 42. 

Mr. Savage, in his valuable edition of Winthrop's New England, 
gives it as his opinion, but without stating his reasons for the 
opinion, that the settlement at Mount Wollaston, which had been 
made by Captain Wollaston in 1G25, " was permanent, though 
the high authority of Governor Dudley's Narrative makes it vanish; 
and if permanent, must be considered the oldest of Massachusetts 
colony, unless Weymouth should assert a claim of vitality through 
its state of suspended animation." 

I will endeavor to present some reasons for this opinion, although 
I cannot but regret that this was omitted by the learned Editor, 
who would have done so much more justice to the subject. It will 
be remembered, that after Wollaston had left his new plantation and 
gone to the South, Thomas Morton assumed the chief authority, 
and occasioned great trouble to the neighboring settlers. In 1G28 an 
armed force was raised against him ; he was arrested, and sent out of 
the country, and according to Gov. Dudley, the settlement at Mount 
Wollaston came to an end, and disappeared. It will also be borne 
in mind, that, in Sept. 3, 1634, it was ordered by the General Court, 
"that Boston shall have enlargement at Mount Wollaston and Rura- 
ney Marsh." The only question then is, whether during the six 
years that intervened from 1G28 to 1634, there were settlers who 
continued in this place. 

It may not be amiss to mention here that the island, which once 
belonged to this town, called Thomson's Island, was taken posses- 
sion of by one David Thomson, in the year 1G2G.* He died soon 
after, leaving a son and heir, John Thomson, who, as soon as he 
came of age, presented a petition to the General Court, and had 
the property in the island confirmed to him and his heirs forever. 

Johnson, in his Wonder-working Providence, says : " To the 
south-east of him (Mr. Wm. Blackstone) near an island called 
Thomson's Island, lived some few planters more; these persons 
were the first planters of those parts, having some small trading 
with the Indians for beaver-skins, which moved them to make their 
abode in those parts, whom these first troops of Christ's army" (that 
is. Gov. Winthrop's company) " found as fit helps to further their 
work." t And again the same author: "Near about this town 

* Mass. Colony Records. + Johnson, p. 37. 



65 

(Dorchester) inhabited some few ancient Traders, who were not of 
this select band, but came for other ends, as Morton of Merry 
Mount." * Prince, in his Chronology, too, in speaking of the state 
of the neighboring parts of the Massachusetts Bay, when Governor 
Winthrop's company arrived, and began their settlement at Boston, 
uses almost the same terms in relation to the "planters near Thom- 
son's Island." The question occurs. Who were those planters 
to whom he alludes ? There had been a plantation at Nantasket as 
early as that date, and one also at Weymouth, (Wessagussett.) But 
Mount Wollaston was nearer to Thomson's Island than either of 
those two places. And a probable inference may be drawn from 
thence, that the settlement at the Mount, begun by Wollaston, was 
permanent; that some of his company remained here after Morton 
was expelled in 1628; that these continued in this place down to 
the time when Mount Wollaston was, by order of court, annexed 
to Boston ; and that they were the old planters referred to by John- 
son, when he says ; " About this time (1640) there was a town and 
church planted at Mount Wollaston and named Braintree ; it was 
occasioned by some old planters, and certain farmers belonging to 
the great town of Boston." 

Furthermore, in the Massachusetts Colony Records I find, under 
date of Nov. 7, 1632, " 100 acres of land granted to Mr. Roger 
Ludlow, to enjoy to him and his heirs forever, lying betwixt Mus- 
quantum Chapel and the mouth of Naponsett." 

Again, a book called " New England's Prospect," t written by 
Mr. Wood, and printed in London in the year 1639, gives the fol- 
lowing description of Mount Wollaston: — "Three miles to the 
north of this (Wessagussett) is Mount Wolliston, a very fertile soil, 
and a place very convenient for farmers' houses, there being great 
store of plain ground, without trees. Near this place is Massachu- 
setts fields, where the greatest Sagamore in the country lived, be- 
fore the plague, who caused it to be cleared for himself" After 
describing several other plantations, the same writer concludes in 
these words ; " These be all the towns that were begun, when I 
came for England, which was the 15th of August, 1633." From 
which it appears, that so early as 1633, that is, a year at least before 
the Mount was granted by the General Court to be a part of Boston, 

* Johnson, p. 4] t Page 31. 



pr 

"V*^ 



66 

the place was so much occupied and improved, as to deserve to be 
mentioned by a traveller, as one of the plantations of the country. 

The Hon. John Quincy Adams gives it as his opinion, " that the 
Braintree company, mentioned by Winthrop in 1C32, as having 
begun to settle at Mount Wollaston, did not remove to Newtown, 
or at least remained, most of them, where they had begun to settle. 
That the?/ were the old planters mentioned by the Wonder-working 
Providence, and that it was at their solicitation that the name, 
Braintree, the place in England, whence they came, was given to 
the town." * I have already stated who are meant, in my opinion, 
by the phrase old planters in Johnson. With respect to the ques- 
tion, whether the Braintree company removed hence to Newtown, 
or continued here, where they first sat down, the following remarks 
are offered. " The Braintree company, which had begun to sit 
down at Mount Wollaston, by order of court, removed to Newtown." 
Such is Gov. Winthrop's testimony. And that the company did 
actually remove thither is positively asserted by Dr. Holmes, who, 
in his History of Cambridge,! (at first called Newtown,) gives the 
names of that company. Among the names contained in his list 
are the following, namely, Jeremy Adams, John Pratt, Nathaniel 
Richards, Wm. Wadsworth, Richard Webb, John White ; names 
which, at the present day, are familiar in this and the neighboring 
towns. But in September of 1634, the General Court was occupied 
with the application, made by Mr. Hooker and his friends, for per- 
mission to remove from Newtown to Connecticut River, they com- 
plaining of want of room. It seems there was at first considerable 
opposition to this application. The difficulty was removed for a 
time by "the congregation of Newtown coming and accepting 
such enlargement as had formerly been offered them by Boston and 
Watertown." My conjecture is, that at this time some of the 
original settlers of Newtown, belonging to the Braintree company, 
so called, accepted lands of Boston at Mount Wollaston, especially 
as it was about this time that Boston had been enlarged by the 
court at Mount Wollaston, and as one of the chief subjects of 
complaint alleged by the Newtown settlers was " their want of ac- 

* See Family Memorial, by Elisha Thayer, for a letter to the author by 
Hon. Mr. Adams, j.j). 39, 40. 

t Holmes's History of Cambridge, in Mass. Historical Collections. 



67 

commodation for their cattle." Tlie Braintree company appears to 
have been divided in 1634. A portion of them, according to the 
supposition stated above, received grants of land at Mount Wollas- 
ton, and these gave the name of Braintree to the place, when after- 
wards it was incorporated as a town ; — and the other division of 
the company subsequently journeyed to the Connecticut River, and 
laid the foundations of Hartford. 



D. Page 19. 



John Wheelwright, the founder and first minister of Exeter, 
came from Lincolnshire, in England, and arrived at Boston, 2C May, 
1636.* It was for a long time taken for granted, that Wheelwright's 
first coming to this country was earlier than the date mentioned 
above, upon the strength of a Deed purporting to have been given 
by four Indian Sachems, 17 May, 1C29, by which they convey 
lands, within the bounds of what is now New Hampshire, to one 
Mr. John Wheelwright, a minister of the gospel, and to his asso- 
ciates, upon certain specified conditions. Belknap inserted this 
Indian Deed in the Appendix to his History of New Hampshire, 
and regarded it as genuine. It has been shown, by Mr. Savage, in 
his edition ofWinthrop's Journal, not to be genuine. For the 
clear and conclusive reasoning by which the spuriousness of the 
document is made out, the reader is referred to the Appendix to 
Savage's Winthrop, Vol. T. p. 405. Wheelwright's first coming to 
this country, then, was in 1036. I find in the Records of the First 
Church, Boston, that " John Wheelwright and Mary his wife were 
admitted members the 12th day of the 4th month, 1636." In the 
same Records is also the following entry : "The 30th of the Sth 
month, 1636. Our brother Mr. John Wheelwright was granted 
unto for the preparing for a church gathering at Mount Wollystone 
upon a petition from some of them that were resident there." 

Under date of 1636, Aug. 24, we find the following in Winthrop's 
Journal : " The inhabitants of Boston, who had taken their farms 

* Farmer's Geneal. Res 



68 

and lots at Mount Wollaston, finding it very burdensome to have 
their business so far off, desired to gather a church there. Many 
meetings were about it. Tiie great let was, in regard it was given 
to Boston for upholding the town and church there, which end 
would be frustrate by the removal of so many chief men as would 
go thither. For helping of this, it was propounded, that such as 
dwelt there should pay sixpence the acre, yearly, for such lands as 
lay within a mile of the water, and three pence for that which lay 
further off." 

There was a grant of land made to Mr. Wheelwright, at the 
Mount, which is thus recorded in the Old Records of the Town of 
Boston. 

"The 2 — th of the 12th mo. 1G3G. — At a meeting this day of 
Thomas Oliver and the other overseers, it is agreed that our brother 
Mr. John Wheelwright shall have an allotment of 250 acres laid 
out for him at Mount Wollaston, where may be most convenient, 
without prejudice to setting up of a town there, to be laid out by 
Mr. Coddington and our brother Wright." 

And afterwards the following : — "3d of 2d mo. 1637. Allot- 
ment of 2-50 acres to John Wheelwright by W. Coddington and our 
brother Richard Wright thus; viz. 40 acres thereof in the sunk 
marsh lying South and by East of the land of the said W. Coddington 
— 5 acres for his house lot, and 205 acres at the end of it, running 
with one side of the first lot, and the line of 20 acres of the plant- 
ing trround allotted to be extended into the country till his full pro- 
portion of 205 acres between these two lines be run out." 

Mrs. Hutchinson had already broached her new opinions, and 
was favored, in the promulgation of them, by her brother, Mr. 
Wheelwright, by Mr. Vane, then governor of the colony, and by 
other prominent persons ; and it seems to have been on account of 
these opinions, that Cotton and Winthrop objected to the proposal 
to retain Mr. Wheelwright as one of the ministers of Boston First 
Church. An alarm had spread through the colony, and in the 
month before, that is, October, Winthrop informs us, that " the 
ministers of the Bay assemble in Boston to inquire respecting 
Wheelwright's and Mrs. Hutchinson's new opinions." 

On the 20th of January, 1636-7, on occasion of a fast which 
had been appointed by the public authorities, Mr. Wheelwright 
preached his famous sermon, which occasioned finally his expulsion 



69 

from the colony. A perfect copy of this sermon, in a modern 
hand, exists in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society; 
as well as a fragment, containing about three fourths of the sermon, 
in a more ancient handwriting. Of tiiis fragment Mr. Savage says, 
that it is " probably original." But from a note on one of the 
blank leaves of the manuscript, which informs that " it was left in 
the hand of Mr. John Coggeshall, who was a deacon of the church 
in Boston ; " it may be inferred that it is not original, but that it 
was copied by, and is in the handwriting of Mr. Coggeshall, a sup- 
porter of Wheelwright, and one who was banished for his adherence 
to that gentleman. 

I have said in the text, that I suppose this sermon was delivered 
at Mount Wollaston. My reason for this assertion was, that Wheel- 
wright had already, as has been shown, received authority to minis- 
ter to the church gathering at the Mount ; and there occurred to 
me no reason for doubting, that the sermon would be delivered at 
the place where he ordinarily preached. It is true, that on the old 
manuscript is written, that the sermon was preached in Boston. 
This, however, is not decisive of the point, because Mount Wollas- 
ton was, at that time, a part of Boston. A stronger objection to my 
assertion is a passage in Welde's Tract entitled — " Rise, Reign, and 
Ruin of the Antinomians" — printed in 1644. "That upon the 
said Fast (Mr. Wheelwright being desired by the Church to exer- 
cise as a private brother by way of prophecy) when Mr. Cotton 
teaching in the afternoon out of Esa. 5S. 4, had showed that it 
was not a fit work for a day of fast, to move strife and debate, &c. ; 
yet Mr. Wheelwright, speaking after him, taught as is here before 
mentioned," &-c. If this is to be taken literally, and not as the 
description given by a bitter opponent, who was seeking to make 
out a strong case against Wheelwright, it may still be supposed, that 
the sermon had been delivered to his own congregation at the 
Mount, and then the substance of it repeated in the Boston First 
Church in the afternoon. I am somewhat confirmed in this con- 
jecture by the date of the grant of land made to Wheelwright, 3d 
of April, 1637. When the sermon was delivered, therefore, Mr. 
Wheelwright, as we must infer, had no house at the Mount, and 
would, on that account, be more likely to preach one part of the 
day there, and the other part in the First Church. 

It cannot be pretended, that Wheelwright never preached at all 



70 

at the Mount, because all the early historians agree in their testimo- 
ny that he did. 

Under date of May 24, 1G37, Winthrop says; "The former gov- 
ernor and Mr. Coddington, being discontented that the people 
had left them out of all public service, gave further proof of it in 
the congregation ; for they refused to sit in the magistrates' seat, 
(where Mr. Vane had always sitten from his first arrival,) and went 
and sate with the deacons, although the governor sent to desire 
them to come in to him. And upon the day of the general fast, 
they went from Boston to keep the day at the Mount with Mr. 
Wheelwright." 

The Fast here mentioned was, doubtless, subsequent to the one 
upon which Wheelwright's sermon was delivered. But the extract 
proves that he ministered here, and if he preached on this occasion 
at the Mount, why not on the fast which occured four months be- 
fore ? 

I shall mention but one more authority out of many that exist, 
to prove that Mr. Wheelwright actually preached, for some time, 
at the Mount : it is Welde, in his History of Antinomianism. He 
relates an incident that " fell out at Mr. Wheelwright his farewell to 
those whom he used to preach unto at the Mount." Gov. Winthrop 
and Mr. Welde were contemporaries with Mr. Wheelwright, and 
of course their testimony as to the point under consideration is 
conclusive. 

But perhaps too much space has been devoted to the ques- 
tion zvhcre this sermon was delivered. It is more curious than 
important, after all. To illustrate the character of the sermon, I 
have given two extracts from it in another place, and have endeav- 
ored to explain the leading idea of the sermon. For the conse- 
quences that resulted from it, we are informed by Winthrop that, 
at the court which began, March 9, 1636-7, Mr. Wheelwright was 
adjudged " guilty of sedition, and also of contempt." Sentence 
was deferred, however. There followed remonstrances and petitions 
from the governor (Mr. Vane) and other dissenters, as well as 
from the Boston First Church, justifying the sermon, and con- 
demning the court's proceedings. A synod was also convened, 
consisting of all the ministers of the colony, by whom the theologi- 
cal questions involved in the controversy were discussed. This 
assembly terminated unfavorably for Mr. Wheelwright. In the 



71 

mean time a political revolution had been effected. Vane and Cod- 
dington, friends of Wheelwright, had been left out of the offices 
they had previously held. At length, "the General Court beintr 
assembled in the '2d of the 9th month, and finding, upon consulta- 
tion, that two so opposite parties could not continue in the same 
body, without apparent hazard of ruin to the whole, agreed to send 
away some of the principal, &c. Then the Court sent for Mr. 
Wheelwright, and he persisting to justify his sermon, and his 
whole practice and opinions, and refusing to leave either the place 
or his public exercisings, he was disfranchised and banished. 
Upon which he appealed to the king, but neither called witnesses, 
nor desired any act to be made of it. The Court told him, that an 
appeal did not lie ; for by the king's gram we had power to hear 
and determine without any reservation, &lc. So he relinquished 
his appeal, and the Court gave him leave to go to his house, upon 
his promise, that, if he were not gone out of our jurisdiction 
within fourteen days, he would render himself to one of the magis- 
trates." * 

The latter part of November, 1637, was, therefore, the time 
when Wheelwright left the Massaclmsetts jurisdiction. His friends 
and adherents, who were banished at the same time, went to the 
south, and purchasing the island of Aquetneck from the natives, 
began the separate colony of Rhode Island. They were solicitous 
that he should join them ; but he bent his steps in a different di- 
rection, and sitting down at the Falls of the Piscataqua, laid the 
foundation of the town of Exeter, one of the earliest settlements 
in New Hampshire. In the Boston First Church Records is the 
following : " Mr. John Wheelwright dismissed with eight others to 
the church at the Falls of Paschataqua II th mo. 6'^^ 1638." There 
he remained, until, in 1642, according to Belknap, " the inhabitants 
of Exeter, finding themselves comprehended within the claim of 
Massachusetts, petitioned the Court, and were readily admitted 
(Sept. 8.) under their jurisdiction. And they were annexed to the 
county of Essex. Upon this. Wheelwright, who was still under 
sentence of banishment, with those of his church who were resolved 
to adhere to him, removed into the province of Maine, and settled 
at Wells." 

* Winthrop. 



72 

In 1643, Sept. 10, Mr. Wheelwright wrote to Gov. Winthrop a 
letter, in which he confessed that he had pressed his theological 
views too far, and urged them with an undue warmth, and upon 
this, his sentence of banishment was soon after released. Being 
restored to the freedom of the colony, he removed to Hampton, 
where he ministered many years. In the year 1658, according to 
Farmer, he was in England, and was in favor with the Protector. 
Cromwell and he are said to have been school-fellows ; and the 
anecdote has been handed down, that Cromwell declared Wheel- 
wright to be the only person he ever was afraid of at football. 
Upon the fall of the Commonwealth, and the restoration of the 
royal government in England, Wheelwright returned, and settled at 
Salisbury, and there died, 15 Nov. 1679. " He lived," says Hutch- 
inson, " to be the oldest minister in the colony, which would have 
been taken notice of, if his persecutors had not remained in power." 
Mr. Wheelwright, according to the same authority, was " several 
years in England, and lived in the neighborhood of Sir Henry 
Vane, who had been his patron in New England, and now took 
great notice of him. Vane being disaffected to Cromwell, it is not 
likely that Cromwell had any great esteem for Wheelwright; yet he 
sent for him by one of his guard, and after a very orthodox dis- 
course, according to Mr. Wheelwright's apprehensions of orthodoxy, 
' and without showing countenance to sectaries,' he exhorted him 
to perseverance against his opposers, and assured him their notions 
would vanish into nothing. This meeting effectually engaged Mr. 
Wheelwrisht in Cromwell's favor." 



E. Paore 21. 



Mrs. Ann Hutchinson, who caused such an excitement in the 
colony, came over to this country in September, 1634. Her hus- 
band, Wm. Hutchinson, had a grant of land made to him at Mount 
Wollaston. She is described by Welde, in his book against the 
Antinomians, as " a woman of a haughty and fierce carriage, of a 
nimble wit and active spirit, and a very voluble tongue, more bold 



73 

than a man, tliougli in understanding and judgment inferior to 
many women." But Welde was a Puritan, and therefore devoid 
of gallantry ; and a bigot, and therefore without charity. Soon 
after she came into the country, she established meetings at her 
house, which were attended by persons of her own sex, at 
which the sermons of the previous Sabbath were criticised, the 
performances of the different ministers of the neighborhood com- 
pared, and points in theology discussed. The consequence was, 
that the colony was divided into two parties, whose relative strength 
was tested at the polls. Gov. Vane lost his election, and soon 
after returned to England ; and Mrs. Hutchinson and her adherents 
were banished from the colony. Winthrop informs us, that, after 
sentence of banishment had been pronounced by the court against 
her, " she went by water to her farm at the Mount, where she was 
to take water, with Mr. Wheelwright's wife and family, to go to 
Pascataquack ; but she changed her mind, and went by land to 
Providence, and so to the island in the Narraganset Bay, which her 
husband and the rest of that sect had purchased of the Indians, 
and prepared with all speed to remove into." Her fate was a 
melancholy one. Her husband having died in 1642, she removed 
from Rhode Island into the Dutch country, and was killed by the 
Indians, with all her children, except one daughter, who was carried 
into captivity. 



F. Page 22. 

" Wm. Coddington, Esq., the munificent donor of our school 
lands, which now rent at .£142, from which this town has reaped 
great benefit in good schools for many years past." * Mr. Hancock 
speaks in this manner of one who deserves to be remembered by 
the inhabitants of this place. Mr. Coddington came to this coun- 
try with Gov. Winthrop, and was a man of high respectability and 

* Hancock's Century Discourse. The income of the school lands, which 
Mr. Hancock puts at £142, sounds large. But it must be remembered, that 
New England paper money had depreciated very much. 

10 



74 

good estate. He and the first Edmund Quincy were among the first 
who received grants of land at this place, when Mount Wollaston, 
as it was called, formed part of the town of Boston. Mr. Codding- 
ton's grant comprised what is now known by the name of the Mount 
Wollaston Farm, at present belonging to the Hon. John Uuincy 
Adams. 

In the first Book of Braintree Town Records is a deed of land 
conveyed from Wm. Coddington, Esq. to the town of Braintree. 
The earliest notice I find of the application of the school fund is 
in the following vote. 

" Feb. 1G68. That the town of Braintree did consent to lay the 
school land, that is to say, the annual income of it, for a salary for 
a school-master, and to make it up £20 besides what every child 
must give." Mr. Benjamin Tompson, son of the first pastor, was 
the earliest schoolmaster I can find mention of in this place. 

In the Dedication to Callender's Century Discourse, addressed to 
the Hon. Wm. Coddington, Esq., there is the following notice of 
the friend of Wheelwright, and the founder of the Commonwealth 
of Rhode Island. 

" Your honored grandfather, William Coddington, Esq., was 
chosen in England to be an assistant of the colony of the 
Massachsetts Bay, A. D. 1629, and in 1630 came over to New 
England with the Governor and the Charter, &c. ; after which 
he was several times rechoscn to that honorable and important 
oflice. He was for some time treasurer of the colony. He was 
with the chiefest in all public charges, ' and a principal merchant 
in Boston,' where he built the first brick house. 

" In the year 1637, when the contentions ran so high in the coun- 
try, he was grieved at the proceedings of the court against Mr. 
Wheelwright and others. And when he found that his opposition 
to those measures was ineffectual, he entered his protest, ' that his , 
dissent might appear to succeeding times ' ; and though he was in 
the fairest way to be great, in the Massachusetts, as to outward 
things, yet he voluntarily quitted his advantageous situation at 
Boston, his large property and his improvements at Braintree,* for 
peace' sake, and that he might befriend, protect, and assist the 
pious people, who were meditating a removal from that colony, on 
account of their religious diflferences. 

* Then Mount Wollaston. 



75 

" Here, when the people first incorporated themselves a body poli- 
tic on this island, they chose him to be their judge or chief ruler, 
and continued to elect him annually to be their governor for seven 
years together, till the patent took place, and the island was incor- 
porated with Providence Plantations. 

" In the year 1647, he assisted in forming the body of laws, which 
has been the basis of our constitution aud government ever since ; 
and the next year being chosen governor of the colony, declined 
the office. 

" In 1651, he had a commission from the supreme authority then 
in England, to be governor of the island, pursuant to a power re- 
served in the patent ; but the people being jealous ' the commission 
might affect their lands and liberties, as secured to them by the 
patent,' he readily laid it down on the first notice from England 
that he might do so ; and for their further satisfaction and content- 
ment, he, by a writing under his hand, obliged himself to make a 
formal surrender of all right and title to any of the lands, more than 
his proportion in common with the other inhabitants, whenever it 
should be demanded. 

" After that, he seems to have retired much from public business, 
till toward the latter end of his days, when he was again divers 
times prevailed with to take the government upon him ; as he did 
particularly in 1678, when he died, November 1, in the seventy- 
eighth year of his age, a good man full of days. Thus, after he 
had the honor to be the first judge and governor of this island, 
' after he had spent much of his estate and the prime of his life in 
propagating plantations,' he died governor of the colony — in pro- 
moting the welfare and the prosperity of the little commonwealth, 
which he had in a manner founded." — See Cullender's Century 
Sermon, Rhode Island Hist. Soc. Coll. Vol. IV. 



G. Page 23. 



Henry Vane descended from a family which had been long dis- 
tinguished in English History. He was born in 1612, and early in 
life embraced the religious views held by the Puritans. Finding 



76 

his situation at home embarrassing, on account of his disaffection 
to the established church, he emigrated to America in 1635, and 
was received in Boston with every demonstration of respect. In 
163G, lie was elected governor of Massachusetts, being at that time 
twenty-four years of age. He advocated the sentiments of Mrs. 
Hutchinson and Mr. Wheelwright, and was the head of what was 
called the Antinomian party. That party, however, was put down, 
and Vane took passage for England in August, 1637. He was a 
member of the Long Parliament, and a decided and consistent 
friend of liberty, although he disapproved of the trial and execution 
of King Charles, He was too pure and just not to be an object of 
hatred and suspicion to Cromwell, when that ambitious personage 
had secured to himself the supreme power. After the death of 
Oliver Cromwell, Vane came forth from his retirement, and became 
a member of Parliament, where he was instrumental, by his elo- 
quence, in overthrowing the government of Richard Cromwell. 
Upon the restoration of the monarchy. Vane, who had always been 
a decided republican, was seized and imprisoned, and finally exe- 
cuted. After he had been condemned to death, it was suggested, 
that, by making submission to the king, his life might perhaps be 
saved. His noble reply was; " If the king does not think himself 
more concerned for his honor and word, than I am for my life, let 
him take it. Nay, I declare that I value my life less in a good 
cause, than the king can do his promise. He is so sufficiently 
obliged to spare my life, that it is fitter for him to do it, than for me 
to seek it," * 

The character of Sir Henry Vane has been differently estimated 
by different historians. The man, however, who has received the 
commendation of Milton in his own age, and of Sir James Mackin- 
tosh in a subsequent period, cannot suffer materially in his fame, 
from those who can more easily shout fanatic, than they can appre- 
ciate his qualities. The following eloquent extract is from one of 
our own historians. 

" At the same time came Henry Vane, the younger, a man of the 
purest mind ; a statesman of spotless integrity ; whose name the 
progress of intelligence and liberty will erase from the rubric of 
ftnatics and traitors, and insert high among the aspirants after truth 

* See Life of Vane, by Rev. C. W. Upliiim, in Sparks's Biography. 



77 



and the martyrs for liberty. He had valued the ' obedience of the 
gospel ' more than the successful career of English diplomacy, and 
cheerfully ' forsook the preferments of the court of Charles for the 
ordinances of religion in their purity in New-England.' He was 
happy in the possession of an admirable genius, though naturally 
more inclined to contemplative excellence than to action ; he was 
happy in the eulogist of his virtues; for Milton, ever so parsimo- 
nious of praise, reserving the majesty of his verse to celebrate the 
glories and vindicate the Providence of God, was lavish of his en- 
comiums on the youthful friend of religious liberty." * 



H. Paire 38. 



The following is a list of the deacons of the church, with the 
dates annexed, as far as these could be ascertained. 



Samuel Bass, July 5, 1640, received to Communion. 

Alexander Winchester, " 12, " dismissed from First Church 

Boston. 
" 21, 1642, dism. fr. First Church Best. 
Oct. 12, 1653. 



Richard Brackett, 
Francis Eliot, 
William Alice, 
Robert Parmenter, 
Samuel Tompson 
Thomas Bass, 
Joseph Penniman, 
Nathaniel Wales, 
Benjamin Savil, 
Moses Paine, 
Gregory Belcher, 
Peter Adams, 
Samuel Savil, 



Nov. 2, 1679. 



Aug. 21, 1727. 



Bancroft's United States, Vol. I. p. 383. 



78 



Jonathan Webb, 
John Adams, 
Joseph Palmer, 
Moses Belcher, 
Joseph Neal, jr. 
Daniel Arnold, 
Benjamin Bass, 
Ebenezer Adams, 
Jonathan Webb, 
Elijah Veazie, 
Jonathan Bass, 
Josiah Adams, 
Daniel Spear, 
Samuel Savil, 

William Spear, 

T M \ c Nov. 22, 1835. 

James Newcomb, ) 



May 11, 1747. 

29, (1752 or '53 probably.) 



3, 1769. 
1, 1771. 
Nov. 3, 1773. 



Jan. 27, 1811. 
Oct. 25, 1817. 



? 



The present deacons are Messrs. Josiah Adams, Samuel Savil, 
William Spear, and James Newcomb. 

The church has had two Ruling Elders ; Stephen Kinsley, or- 
dained Oct. 12, 1653, — and Nathaniel Wales, ordained Feb. 27, 
1700. 



I. Pages 39, 43. 



Mr. William Tompson, whose name is spelt without an h, was 
a native of Lancashire, England. He is placed by Cotton Mather 
in his First Classis, including those that had been in the exercise of 
their ministry previous to their leaving England. We learn also 
from Mather, who prefers that his facts should come dancing 
down to posterity in rude numbers, that he was educated at Oxford, 
and after leaving the University, exercised his gifts, as a Christian 
minister, in the North of England. 

" Oxford tliis light with Tongues and Arts doth trim ; 
And then his Northern town doth challenge him. 



79 ' 

His time and strength he centred there in this ; 
To do good works, and be what now lie is. 
His fulgent virtues there, and learned strains, 
Tall, comely presence, life unsoil'd with stains, 
Things most on Worthies, in their stories writ, 
Did him to move in Orbs of service fit." * 

From the same authority we learn, that, as soon as he left the 
University, he distinguished himself for his zeal and eloquence in 
the cause of the Protestant religion, and attracted many hearers, 
and won many converts. In the inscription to a work, the joint 
production of Mr. Richard Mather, first minister of Dorchester, N. E., 
and Mr. Wm. Tompson, addressed to Mr. Herle, is the following pas- 
sage : " Our answer, which as we have written and now published 
it for the truth's sake — so in special manner in love to jiourself 
and our dear countrymen and friends, as in other places of Lanca- 
shire, so in your parish of Winwick, wherein one of us was born, 
and the other was for sundry years together an unworthy minister 
of the Gospel of Christ." 

Cotton Mather gives Lowton as the town in which his ances- 
tor Richard was born, but mentions his being put to school in 
Winwick, four miles from his father's door; so that the parish of 
Winwick probably included Lowton ; and we may conclude, that it 
was Tompson who preached there. The time of his coming to 
New England cannot be determined with certainty. Farmer says,t 
that he came in the year 1G37, but does not mention his reasons. 

Johnson, in his " Wonder-working Providence," and Josselyn, 
in his " Chronological Observations," \ give 1638 as the year of 
his emigrating. He is mentioned by the author of " Wonder-work- 
ing Providence," under date of 1637, as coming into the country 
just previous to the synod held to settle the Antinomian controversy. 
This synod began, Aug. 30, 1637. In the Records of Dorchester 
Church, which I have been enabled to inspect, through the kindness 
of my friend, Rev. Mr. Hall, and of which a fair copy has been 
made by the learned Dr. Harris, formerly minister of that church, 
the name of Mr. Wm. Tompson is given as a member. It stands 
in connexion with the names of two other ministers, Mr. George 

* Mather's Magnalia, Life of Tompson. 

t Farmer's Geneal. Register. 

X Sec these works in Massachusetts Historical Collections. 



80 

Moxon and Mr. Samuel Newman ; but no date of admission is 
given. That church, it appears from the Records, was gathered, 
the 23d day of August, IGJ'G, and the covenant was then signed by 
the seven original members, whose names are there given. After 
these follows a long list of names, without any date, and of these 
Mr. Tompson's name is the seventy-third in order. As it stands next 
to the name of Mr. Samuel Newman, we may conclude that they 
were admitted at the same time. Now Mather informs us, in his 
life of Mr. Newman, that that individual came over in the year 
1638, and that " after his arrival at New England, he spent a year 
and half at Dorchester,* &,c. From these circumstances we are 
led to infer, that 1638 is the earliest date that can be assigned for 
the admission of Mr. Tompson into the Dorchester church. The 
fact before mentioned, that Mather and Tompson came from the 
same county in England, and had been friends before their flight 
into the wilderness, may account for Mr. Tompson's having joined 
himself to Mr. Mather's church in New England. How long he 
resided in Dorchester is not known. But the next earliest mention 
of him is found in Winthrop's New England, where he is spoken of 
as " a very holy man, who had been an instrument of much good 
at Acomenticus. t This was the original name of York, in what is 
now the State of Maine. Mr. Tompson was ordained the pastor of 
the church at Mount Wollaston, the 19th of November, 1639, | and 
made freeman, 13th May, 1640. Mr. Hancock says, in a note to 
one of his Century Sermons, that " Mr. Tompson was ordained 
eight days after the church was gathered, viz. Sept. 24, 1639," but 
Winthrop's authority is to be preferred. Under date of 27th of 
11th month (January), 1639, a grant of 120 acres of land at Mount 
Wollaston was made to Mr. Tompson, free from the rate of 35. 
pr. acre, which charge was one of the conditions annexed by the 
town of Boston to the permission they gave the inhabitants at the 
Mount to become a town by themselves. § There was at the same 
time a grant made of 80 acres, free from the same rate, to Mr. 
Henry Flynt, teacher of the newly gathered church. And as late 
as the 29th of 5th month (July), 1644, the following grant is re- 

* Mather's Magnalia. 

t Winthrop's New England, Savage's Edition, Vol. I. p. 324. 
t Winthrop's Now England, Savage's Edition. Vol. I. p. 324. 
§ Boston Town Records. First Book. 



81 

corded — " That parcel of marsh that belongeth unto the town of 
Boston in the three hill marsh at Braintree, which was not formerly 
counted to belong to Mr. Wheelwright's marsh, together with the 
two hillocks of upland therein, is granted to be equally divided 
between Wm. Tompson and Henry Flynt, Teacher of the church 
of Braintree."* The first mention I find of the pastor and teacher 
in the Braintree Town Records, which have been kindly loaned 
me by the present Town Clerk of Braintree, is the following : 

*'29th 10th month (December), 1645. At a town meeting, there 
being present Mr. Welde, James Peniman, Martin Sanders, Thomas 
Mekins, Samuel Bass, Peter Brackett. It is ordered, that the 14 
acres of Town Marsh shall be improved to the Elders' use, Mr. 
Tompson and Mr. Flint (till) such time as the Townsmen shall see 
fit otherwise to dispose of it." t 

One of the most important incidents in the life of Mr. Tompson was 
his being chosen one of three ministers to go on a mission to Virginia, 
in 1642, upon a request, from certain individuals in that remote 
colony, that competent ministers of the congregational order should 
be sent to preach the Gospel to them. The following extract from 
Hubbard's History of New England will explain the reasons and 
objects of this mission. 

"In the same year (1642) one Mr. Bennet, a gentleman of Vir- 
ginia, arrived at Boston, bringing letters with him from sundry well- 
disposed people there, to the ministers of New England, bewailing 
their sad condition for want of the means of salvation, and earnestly 
entreating a supply of faithful ministers, whom upon experience of 
their gifts and godliness they might call to office. Upon these let- 
ters, (which were openly read at Boston, on a lecture-day,) the 
ministers there met, agreed to set a day apart to seek God in the 
thinor, and agreed upon three, which might most easily be spared, 
viz. Mr. Phillips of Watertown, Mr. Thompson of Braintree, and 
Mr. Miller of Rowley, (these churches having each of them two 
ministers,) which the General Court approved of, and ordered that 
the Governor should commend them, by his letters, to the Governor 
and Council of Virginia. But Mr. Phillips not being willing to go, 
Mr. Knowles, his fellow-laborer, and Mr. Thompson were sent 

" Boston Town Records. First Book. 
t Braintree Town Recordg. First Book. 

11 



away, with the consent of their churches, and departed on their 
way, on the 7th of October, 1642, to meet the vessel that should 
transport them at Narraganset ; but Mr. Miller, because of his 
bodily weakness, did not accept the call. Both the churches were 
willing to dismiss their ministers to that work, and the court like- 
wise did allow and further it, for the advancement of the kingdom 
of the Lord Jesus, not fearing to part with such desirable persons, 
because they looked at it as seed sown, that might bring in a plen- 
tiful harvest. 

" They that were sent to Virginia were long wind bound at 
Rhode Island, and met with many other difficulties, so as they made 
it eleven weeks of a dangerous passage before they arrived there ; 
but had this advantage in the way, that they took a third minister 
along with them, viz. Mr. James, (formerly the pastor of the church 
at Charlestown,) from New Haven. They found loving and liberal 
entertainment in the country, and were bestowed in several places, 
by the care of some honest minded persons, that much desired their 
company, rather than by any care of the governor's. And though 
the difficulties and dangers they were continually exercised with in 
their way thither put them upon some question, whether their call 
were of God or not, yet were they much encouraged by the success 
of their ministry, through the blessing of God, in that place. Mr. 
Thompson, a man of a melancholy temper and crazy body, wrote 
word back to his friends, that he found his health so repaired, and 
his spirit so enlarged, that he had not been in the like condition 
since he first left England. But it fared with them, as it had done 
before with the apostles in the primitive times, that the people mag- 
nified them, and their hearts seemed to be much inflamed with an 
earnest desire after the gospel, though the civil rulers of the coun- 
try did not allow of their public preaching, because they did not 
conform to the orders of the Church of England ; however the 
people resorted to them, in private houses, as much as before. At 
their return, which was the next summer, by the letters they brought 
with them, it appears that God had greatly blessed their ministry, 
for the time while they were there, which was not long ; for the 
rulers of the country did in a sense drive them out, having made an 
order that all such as would not conform to the discipline of the 
English Church should depart the country by such a day."* 

^ Hubbard's Hist, of N. England, in Mass, Hist. Coll. Vol. VI. 2d Series. 



Winthrop, from whom Hubbard took a great part of the materials 
of his History, mentions some additional particulars respecting this 
mission. " They were eleven weeks," he says, " before they ar- 
rived. They lay wind-bound some time at Aquiday ; then, as they 
passed Hellgate between Long Island and the Dutch, their pinnace 
was bilged upon the rocks, so as she was near foundered before 
they could run on the next shore. The Dutch Governor gave them 
slender entertainment; but Mr. Allerton of New Haven, being 
there, took great pains and care for them, and procured them a 
very good pinnace, and all things necessary. So they set sail in the 
dead of winter, and had much foul weather, so as with great diffi- 
culty and danger they arrived safe in Virginia."* 

It appears, from -what is related concerning this mission, that, 
although it did not succeed, as had been anticipated, and was ab- 
ruptly terminated by the order from the authorities of the Virginia 
colony, yet it was not wholly without fruit. Many seem to have 
been favorably impressed by the preaching of Tompson and his 
associates ; and the early historians of New England mention par- 
ticularly the removal of Daniel Gookins from Virginia to New Eng- 
land, as the result of the deep impression produced by the Puritan 
preachers from the North. This individual seems to have been 
highly esteemed in his day. He removed to this part of the coun- 
try in 1644, and settled in Cambridge ; was Major General of the 
Massachusetts Colony, and was author of " The Historical Collec- 
tions of the Indians in New England."! Mather thus alludes, and 
in no bad strain, to the dangers and benefits that attended this 
mission. 

" When Reverend Knowles and he, sailed hand in hand. 
To Christ espousing the Virginian land, 
Upon a ledge of craggy rocks near stav'd. 
His Bible in his bosom thrusting sav'd ; 
The Bible, the best cordial of his heart, 
'Come floods, come flames, (cried he,) we'll never part' 
A constellation of great converts there, 
Shone round him, and his heavenly glory were. 
Gookins was one of these : by Tompson's pains, 
Christ and New England a dear Gookins gains." | 

* Winthrop's N. England, Vol. II. p 06. 

t See Mass. Hist. Collections, where this work has been printed. 

t Mather's Magnalia, Life of Tompson. 



84 

Mr. Tompson met with a severe bereavement in the death, during 
his absence, of his wife, who is described as " a godly young woman, 
and a comfortable help to him, being left behind with a company 
of small children, she was taken away by death, and all his children 
scattered, but well disposed of among his godly friends."* 

In the First Book of Records of First Congregational Church, 
Roxbury, with the loan of which I have been favored, are entered 
some verses, occasioned by the death of Mrs. Tompson. They are 
in the form of a consolatory address, supposed to be made by the 
deceased wife, from the world of spirits, to her surviving husband. 
They will be regarded, of course, rather as a curious relic of the 
past, than as presenting any very strong claims to poetical merit. 
The lines, however, which are italicised are expressed in natural 
and simple language, which was uncommon in the metrical attempts 
of that day. 

" An Anagram of Mrs. Tomson, which Mr. [here some words are 
obliterated in the manuscript] Mr. Tomson to Virginia, she dy- 
ing in his absence, when he was sent to preach Christ to them. 
Abigayll Tomson. 
I am gon to al blys. 

The blessed news I send to thee is this, 
That I am gone from thee unto all bliss, — 
Such as the saints and angels do enjoy, 
Whom neither devil, world nor flesh annoy ; 
The bliss of blisses. I am gone to him, 
Who as a bride did for himself me trim. 
Thy bride I was, (a most unworthy one,) 
But to a better bridegroom I am gone. 
Who doth account me worthy of himself, 
Though I were never such a worthless elf. 
He hath me clad with his own worthiness. 
And for the sake thereof he doth me bless. 
Thou didst thy part to wash me, but his grace 
Hath left no spot nor wrinkle in my face. 
Thou little think'st, nor canst at all conceive, 
What is the bliss that I do now receive. 
When oft I heard thee preach and pray and sing, 
I thought that heaven was a most glorious thing. 

* Winthrop's N. England, Vol. II. p. 06. 



85 



And I believe, if ahy knew, 't was thou 

That knew'st what manner thing it was, but now 

I see thou sawest but a glimpse, and hast 

No more of heaven, but a little taste 

Compared with that which here we see and have, 

Nor can'st have more till thou have past the grave. 

Thou never told'st me of the tithe, nor yet 

The hundredth thousand thousand part of it. 

Alas ! (dear soul,) how short is all the fame 

Of these third heavens where I translated am. 

Oh if thou ever loved'st me at all, 

Whom thou didst hy such loving titles call, 

Yea, if thou lovest Christ, as who doth more, 

Tlien do not thou my death too much deplore. 

Wring not thy hands, nor sigh, nor cry, nor weep, 

Because thine Abigail is falVn asleep : 

^Tis but her body, ivhich shall rise again, 

In Chrisfs sweet bosom doth her soid remain. 

Mourn not as if thou hast no hope of me, 

^Tis I, H is 1 have cause to pity thee. 

O turn thy sighing into songs of praise 

Unto the name of God, let all thy days 

Be spent in blessing of his grace for this, 

That he hath brought me to this place of bliss. 

It was a blessed, a thrice blessed snow. 

Which to the meeting I then waded through. 

When pierced I was upon my naked skin. 

Up to the middle the deep snow within. 

There never was more happy way I trod. 

That brought me home so soon unto my God ; 

Where we do always hallelujahs sing 

Unto that blessed and eternal king, 

Where I do look for thee to come ere long 

To sing thy part in this most joyful song ; 

Instead of Braintree church, conducting me 

Unto a better church, where now I see 

Not sinful men, but Christ, and those that are 

Fully exempt from every spot and scar 

Of sinful guilt; where I no longer (need) 

Or word or seal my feeble soul to (feed), 

But face to face I do behold the lamb 

That down from heaven for my salvation came, 

And hither is ascended up again. 

Me to prepare a place wherein to reign." 



86 

Mr. Tompson married, for a second wife, Anne, the widow of 
Symon Crosbie of Cambridge. The date of this second marriage 
of Mr. Tompson I have not ascertained, but suppose it to have 
been in 1C4G or 1G47. Their only child, Anna Tompson, was born 
Marcli 3, 1C48.* 

The next notice I have met with of Mr. Tompson is connected 
with the Synod, which was convened at Cambridge in 1048, and 
which framed the platform of Church Discipline for our Congrega- 
tional churches. " Mr. Allen of Dedham preached out of Acts 15, 
a very godly, learned, and particular handling of near all the doc- 
trines and applications concerning that subject, &c. 

"It fell out about the midst of his sermon, there came a snake into 
the seat, where many of the elders sate behind the preacher. It 
came in at the door where people stood thick upon the stairs. Di- 
vers of the elders shifted from it, but Mr. Tompson, one of the 
elders of Braintree, a man of much faith, trode upon the head of it, 
and so held it with his foot and staff with a small pair of grains, 
until it was killed. This being so remarkable, and nothing falling 
out but by divine providence, it is out of doubt, the Lord discov- 
ered somewhat of his mind in it. The serpent is the devil ; the 
Synod, the representative of the churches of Christ in New England. 
The devil had formerly and lately attempted their disturbance and 
dissolution; but their faith in the seed of the woman overcame him, 
and crushed his head." t — The incident here related so gravely, 
together with the remarks made upon it by such a man as Winthrop, 
furnishes a singular illustration of the character of our fathers. 

For several years before his death, Mr. Tompson's happiness and 
usefulness appear to have been destroyed, by a fixed melancholy, 
probably constitutional, and which amounted at times to mental 
alienation. He left off his public labors as a preacher, in the year 
1659, about seven years before his death. | 

The state of his mind, in the latter portion of his life, doubtless 
incapacitated him for the management of his temporal affairs, as 

* Braintree Register of Birilis, Deaths, &c. A copy of this old Register 
was made several years since for President John Adams, and is now in the 
possession of Hon. John Q. Adams, to whom I am indebted for the use of it. 

t Winthrop's New England, Vol. II. p. 330. 

t This fact I ascertained from one of the old documents, in the archives of 
the State, so conveniently arranged by Mr. Felt. 



well as the discharge of his official duties. In the archives of the 
State is a document entitled, " A proposal for the issue of the com- 
plaints presented by the beloved brethren, the Deacons of ihc Church 
of Braintree, in reference to our beloved sister Mrs. Tonipson, yet 
standing member of the Church of Cambridge, drawn up by the 
Elders and some brethren of that church who had an hearing thereof 
at Cambridge, October 15, KiCl." — This unhappy dilTerence be- 
tween Mrs. Tompson and the officers of the Braintree Church 
seems to have continued. After the decease of her husband, she 
presented a petition, in 1GG8, to the General Court, in which she 
complains of certain moneys being witheld, that were due to her 
husband for his services, and asks for relief, although she " humbly 
craves, that she may not be interpreted to accuse the Church of acts 
of any injustice or neglect in the place where she lives." — In this 
connexion it may be mentioned that in the Dorchester Church Re- 
cords is the following entry : 

"The 26 (1) '65. 

" The day abovesaid, at the motion of Mr. Mather, there was a 
contribution for Mr. Tompson at Braintree, unto which there was 
given in money £6. Os. 9d., besides notes for corn and other things, 
above 305. ; and some more money was added afterwards to the 
value of 8s. Sd." 

It is not easy to account for Mr. Tompson's becoming so reduced 
in his circumstances. Johnson, in his " Wonder-working Provi- 
dence," has a passage which bears upon the subject. " This Town " 
(he is speaking of the town then recently incorporated at Mount 
Wollaston, by the name of Braintree) " hath great store of land in 
tillage, and is at present in a very thriving condition for outward 
things, although some of Boston retain their farms from being of 
their Town, yet do they lie within their bounds, and how it comes 
to pass I know not ; their officers have somewhat short allotvancc ; 
they are well stored with cattle and corn, and as a people receives 
so should they give. The Reverend Mr. Tompson is a man abound- 
ing in zeal for the propagation of the gospel, and of an ardent af- 
fection, in so much that he is apt to forget himself in things that 
concern his own good, " &C. 

And yet from the Report of the Committee,* appointed by the 

* See Massachusetts Historical Collections, 3d Series, Vol. I. 



88 

General Court, to inquire concerning the maintenance of ministers 
in the County of Suffolk, it appears tliat the salary allowed their 
ministers in Braintree, was, considering the size of the place, quite 
as good as in the neighboring towns. That Committee, consisting of 
Thomas Savage, Eleazer Lusher, John Johnson, met 22d of July, 
1657. According to their report Hingham, having about one 
hundred familes, allowed =£90 pr. annum. Weymouth, .£100 pr. 
annum, with GO families. Dorchester, £'100, 120 families. Rox- 
bury, to Mr. Elliot and Mr. Danforth each =£00, 80 families. 
Dedham <£60, 166 families. Medfield, £50 pr. annum, 40 families. 
Hull, .£40 pr. annum, 20 families. The Report likewise mentions 
that the mode of raising the salaries in Braintree was by public 
contribution, and for this reason, perhaps, the amount raised was 
liable to vary from time to time. 

Death at length came to deliver the pastor from his outward 
straits, and to relieve his mental distress. It is gratifying to be as- 
sured, that before his departure, the cloud, that had settled upon him 
for years, lifted, and he enjoyed a brief season of peace. He died, 
December 10, 1666; according to his grave-stone, which is still 
standing in the burying place in this town, with the following in- 
scription : " Here lies buried the body of the Rev. Mr. William 
Tompson, the first Pastor of Braintrey Church, who deceased Decem- 
ber 10, 1666, iEtatis suae 68. 

" He was a learned, solid, sound divine, 
Whose name and fame in both England did shine." 

Although this is, doubtless, the true date of his death, there is a 
singular diversity on this point, in contemporary notices of the event, 
which serves to show how difficult it is to attain to historical exact- 
ness, where exactness is of more moment than in the present in- 
stance. The Roxbury Church Records, in noticing the event, make it 
occur the 12th of 10th mo. '66. Hobart's manuscript Journal * has 
the following entry : " Dec. 9, 1666, Mr. Tompson, minister at Brain- 
tree, died 9 day." The Braintree Register of Births, Deaths, &,c., 
Mr. Adams's copy, gives 10th mo. 10, 1666. Mr. Hancock, in a 
note to one of his Century Discourses gives the date December 10, 
1668, which is manifestly a mistake, and probably a misprint. 

* Journal of Mr. Peter Hobart, first Minister of Hingham, kindly procured 
for me, with other old manuscripts, by Solomon Lincoln, Esq. of Hingham. 



89 

Mr. Tompson is described by Mather, in his Magnalia, as " a very 
powerful and successful preacher ; and we find his name sometimes 
joined in the title page of several books, with his countryman, Mr. 
Richard Mather, as a writer." Since the Discourses in this Pamph- 
let were written, I have succeeded in finding in the Library of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society one work, the joint production of 
these two individuals. It bears the following title : " A modest and 
brotherly answer to Mr. Charles Herle his Book against the Inde- 
pendency of Churches, wherein his four arguments for the govern- 
ment of Synods over particular Congregations are friendly exam- 
ined and clearly answered. Together with christian and loving 
animadversions upon sundry other observable passages in the said 
Book. 

" All tending to declare the true use of Synods, and the power 
of Congregational Churches, in the points of electing and ordain- 
ing their own officers. 

" By Richard Mather, Teacher of the church at Dorchester, and 
William Tompson, Pastor of the Church at Braintry in New- 
England. 

" Sent from thence after the assembly of Elders were dissolved, 
that last met in Cambridge, to debate matters about church gov- 
ernment. London, 1644." 

From the Inscription prefixed to this work a quotation has already 
been made in the first part of the present note. 

The children of Mr. Tompson, according to Farmer,* were 
William, Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin, and a daughter who married 
William Very. William, if there was a son by this name, which I 
question, and Samuel must have been born in England. Mr. Sav- 
age, in his Edition of Winthrop, says that " the Braintree Records 
mention the birth of his son Joseph, 1 May, 1640, Benjamin, 14 
July, 1642, and the death of his wife in January, 1642." This is man- 
ifestly a mistake, and should be 1643, as Farmer has it. I have 
not been able to find, in Mr. Adams's copy of the Braintree Regis- 
ter, the births or the death mentioned above. The daughter's name 
was Anna, and she was born 1 mo. 3, 1648. t This was a child by 
his second wife. The others were the children of his first wife, 
•' his beloved Abigail." — There was a Wm. Thompson graduated 

* Farmers Genealogical Register. ^ Braintree Register 

12 



90 

at Harvard College, 1G53, and him Farmer thinks to have been a 
a son of the Pastor of. Braintree.* He became a preacher and was 
invited to settle at Springfield, and appears to have been living in 
1698. In the Suffolk Probate Records is a Document, entitled, 
" Articles of agreement between Mrs. Anna Tompson, widow of 
Mr. Wm. Tompson of Braintree, and Mr. Tompson's children, 
concerning the estate," &,c. In this Document, dated 2 May, 
1667, Samuel is spoken of as the oldest son of Mr. Tompson, and 
no William is mentioned. This leads me to think that Farmer 
was in an error on this point. Samuel was a Deacon of the 
Braintree Church. He was married to Sarah Shepard, 25 April, 
1656, by Mr. Brown of Watertown.t He was voted town Clerk 
in the year 1690. | The same year he made the following entry : 
" Samuel Tompson sen., who is aged, the 16th Feb. 1690, 60 years, 
recorded his children which he had, by Sarah his wife," &.c. § It 
appears then that he was born himself in the year 1630, and was 
about 7 years of age when his father emigrated to New England. 
His death is noticed thus ; " Samuel Tompson sen., Deacon of 
Br. Church, for 16 years, and standing elected for a ruling elder, 
died, 18 June, 1695 JEx. 64 yrs."|| He was also Representative 14 
years. ^ His grave stone is to be seen in our burying ground. Ed- 
ward Tompson, ordained minister of Marshfield, 14 Oct. 1696, was 
son of the preceding, and not of Benjamin, as Farmer asserts. 

" Joseph, son of the Rev. Wm. Tompson, was born at Braintree, 
1 May, 1640, married Mary Brackett, 24 July, 1662, and soon after 
settled in Billerica, where he was a schoolmaster, captain, select- 
man, town clerk, deacon of tlie church many years, and in 1699, 
1700, and 1701, a representative to the General Court. He died, 

13 Oct. 1732, M. 92."** 

Benjamin, son of the Rev. Wm. Tompson, was born at Braintree, 

14 July, 1642, and graduated at Harvard College, 1662.tt He was 
town Clerk of Braintree in 1696. He kept a school in this town 
many years. He was a poet, and " author of the verses in praise of 
Whiting, which are, probably," says the Editor of Winthrop,J| " the 
best in the Magnalia." His death is thus mentioned in the Brain- 

* Gencal. Register. t Braintree Register. t Ibid. § Ibid. || Ibid. 
If Farmer's Gencal. Register ** Ibid. tt Ibid. 

tX Winthrop's N. England, Savage's Note to p. 313. Vol. I. 



# 



91 

tree Register : " Mr. Benj. Tompson, practitioner of physic for 
above 30 years, during which time he kept a grammar school in 
Boston, Charleston, and Braintree, having left behind him a weary 
world, 8 children, 28 grand-children, deceased 13 April, 1714. 
And lieth buried in Roxbury, Mi. 72. Benjamin, the youngest son 
of Rev. Wm. Tompson, by his beloved Abigail, who died while Mr. 
Tompson was in Virginia with the Rev. Mr. Knowles." 

Whether Mr. Tompson's first wife, who died in his absence, was 
buried in Braintree, I do not know. There is no stone remaining 
here to her memory. His second wife died Oct. 11, 1675, and lies 
buried beside him.* 

" It is supposed," says Mr. Savage, " that the celebrated Benja- 
min Tompson, Count Rumford, was descended from this first Pas- 
tor of Braintree. "t It is not agreeable to be obliged to question the 
statement, but Farmer has traced the Count's descent from a differ- 
ent family, and who will dispute with Farmer on such a point ? 

Mr. Tompson died intestate. There is in the Suffolk Probate 
Office an inventory of his effects, | which corresponds too closely 
with Mather's lines : 

" Braintree was of this Jewel then possest, 
Until himself he labored into rest, 
His Inventory then, with John's was took ; 
A rough Coat, girdle, with tlie sacred Book." 



K. Page 40. 



The account given by Mather, in his Magnalia, of Mr. Henry 
Flint (or Flynt, as it is found most frequently spelt) is very meagre. 
It amounts to but little more than that his reverence for John Cot- 
ton was so great, that, having twins, he called one of them John, 
and the other Cotton. According to Johnson, he arrived here in 
the year 1G35. " He was admitted of Boston Church, 15 Novem- 
ber, this year (1G35) a fortnight after Vane." § In a manuscript 

* Braintree Register. t Savage's Wintlirop, Vol. 1. p. 313 note. 

t The old Suffolk County, it will be remembered, included Braintree. 
§ Winthrop's N. England, Savage's Edition, p. 169. Vol. I., note. 



92 

Journal of Rev. Josiah Flynt, son of the first Teacher of Braintree,* 
I find the following entry : " Mr. Henry Flint came to New Eng- 
land 2, (12)m. 1G35." I know not how to reconcile this with the 
date of his admission into the Boston church, except by supposing 
that by the 12th mo. (which was February) was intended that which 
closed the year 1634, according to the computation then in use. 
And I am confirmed in this supposition, by what is added, namely, 
" was ordained Teacher of the church of Braintree 1640." He was 
in fact ordained, 17 March, 1639-40. This part of the manuscript 
was, I suppose, written by Henry Flynt, Esq. The year then com- 
menced, it will be borne in mind, with March, so that February 
closed the year, instead of being, as now, the second month of a 
new year. 

From what part of England Mr. Flynt came can be known only 
by inference. Thomas Flynt, of Concord, says Farmer, " brother 
of the Rev. Henry Flynt, came from Matlock in Derbyshire, and 
settled in Concord, in 1637."t We may take for granted, therefore, 
that the minister of Braintree came from the same place. He was 
admitted Freeman,! 25 May, 1636. During the Antinomian excite- 
ment, he seems to have favored the new views, perhaps out of defer- 
ence to Mr. Cotton, whom he is said to have admired so much ; and 
if so, he followed the example of Cotton still further, and evinced 
his prudence, by abjuring the doctrine of Mr. Wheelwright, when 
he and his principal friends had been obliged to leave the colony. 
" There is entered," says Mr. Savage, § " so late as 13 May, 1640, 
the submission of Mr. Henry Flynt. But the victory over him was 
well deserving of notice, as he was a distinguished young man, then 
chosen minister at Braintree, where his settlement, which should 
have taken place at the same time with Tompson's, 24 Sept. 1639, || 
was delayed till 17 March after. No doubt this postponement was, 
to afford him liberal opportunity for this recantation," And it will 
be perceived by the following extract from the " Wonder-working 

* This manuscript belonged to the Rev. Dr. Holmes, the American Annalist, 
and is now in the hands of liis widow, from whom it was procured for my use 
by the kindness of Miss Quincy. 

t Farmer's Genealogical Register. t Ibid. 

§ Winthrop, Savage's Edition, Vol. I. p. 247. 

II This date is a mistake. Winthrop gives the date of Tompson's ordination, 
Nov. 19, 1639. Vol. I. p. 324. 



93 

Providence," that Mr. Flynt was honored as one of the instruments 
for correcting the heterodoxy that had prevailed at the Mount, in the 
time of Wheelwright. "They had formerly one Mr. Wheelwright 
to preach unto them, (till this government could no longer contain 
them,) they, many of them, in the mean time, belonging to the 
Church of Christ in Boston, but after his departure, they gathered 
into a church themselves ; having some enlargement of land, they 
began to be well peopled, calling to oflice among them, the reverend 
and godly Mr. Wm. Tompson, and Mr. Henry Flynt, the one to the 
office of a Pastor, the other of a Teacher ; the people are purged, by 
their industry, from the sour leven of those sinful opinions that be- 
gan to spread, and if any remain among them, it is very covert." * 

It has been mentioned, in another place, that he had a grant of 
80 acres of land at the Mount, made to him by the town of Boston, 
in the year 1639 -40.t And again is the following : " 29th, 5th mo. 
1644. The land within the common fence at Braintry, near the 

Knight's Neck, belonging to Boston, is hereby sold unto 

Matson, James Penniman, Moses Payne, Francis Eliot, for 5s. per. 
acre, be it more or less, to be paid in corn or cattle, within one 
month, into the hands of Mr. Henry Flynt, of Braintry, for his own 
use, on consideration of his late great loss, through the hand of 
God's Providence, by fire." | 

Mr. Flynt is not spoken of, by any of the historians who mention 
him, as an author, nor have I been able to discover anything in his 
hand-writing, or in that of his associate, the Pastor of Braintree 
Church. Mr. Hancock has the remark : " During the time of Mr. 
Tompson's and Mr. Flynt's ministry, there were 204 adult members 
of this church. I have also a record, in Mr. Flynt's manuscripts, of 
baptisms from April 30, 1643, to March 1, 1667-8, though I am 
jealous there were some omissions; the whole number amounts to 
408. I cannot find any account of baptisms in the time of vacancy 
between Mr. Flynt's death and Mr. Fiske's settlement. "§ 

The manuscripts which Mr. Hancock refers to above are not now, 
and have never been in the possession of either of the present min- 
isters of the church. In a conversation with Dr. Harris, formerly the 
respected Pastor of Dorchester First Congregational Church, I un- 

* Johnson's Wonder-working Providence. t Boston old Town Rcc. 

t Boston old Town Records. § Hancock's Century Sermon. 



94 

derstoodhim to say that Mr. Welde, formerly Pastor of what is now 
Braintree Church, had those records in his possession ; but when he 
obtained thein, and for what purpose, was not explained. They are 
probably now irrecoverably lost. As curious and interesting relics 
of old times, their loss must be regretted. 

Mr. Flynt died, 27 April, 1G6S, having survived the Pastor, Mr. 
Tompson, a little over a year and four months, and his remains lie 
in our burying ground. A stone over tlieni bears the following in- 
scription : " Here lies interred the body of the Rev. Mr. Henry 
Flynt, who came to New England in the year 1635 : was ordained 
the first Teacher of the Church of Braintrey, 1639, and died, April 
27, 1668. He had the character of a gentleman remarkable for his 
piety, learning, wisdom, and fidelity in his office. By him, on his 
right hand, lies the body of Margery, his beloved consort, who 
died, March 1686-7. Her maiden name was Hoar. She was a 
gentlewoman of piety, prudence, and peculiarly accomplished for 
instructing young gentlewomen ; many being sent to her from other 
towns, especially from Boston. They descended from ancient and 
good families in England." 

This inscription, I suspect, was written in Mr. Hancock's time, 
perhaps by Mr. Hancock himself He says in a note to one of his 
Century Discourses : " Mr. Flynt's monument is still to be seen, 
though much gone to decay, but I hope to see the tomb of the 
prophet rebuilt." * This note, taken in connexion with the modern 
style of the inscription, leads me to infer that the old inscription 
had been effaced by time, and that this was composed anew or at 
least re-written. The age of Mr. Flynt, at his death, is not given 
on his tomb stone. But in the Roxbury First Church Records, 
there is entered a notice of the event in these words : 

"27, 2m., '68. Mr. Henry Flynt, Teacher to the church at Brain- 
trey, aged 61, deceased." He was, therefore, about 32 years of 
age when he was settled in Braintree, and eight or nine years 
younger than the Pastor. The following is a notice of his death 
by his son Josiah : " On 27, 2m., 1663, it pleased the Lord to take 
away my honored father, Mr. Henry Flynt, Teacher of the church 
of Braintrey." t 

The date of Mrs. Flynt's decease, which is not given in full, in 

* Hancock's Century Disc. p. 24. \ Rev. Josiah Flynt's MS. Journal. 



95 

the inscription upon tiie stone, is thus settled by contemporary man- 
uscripts. "Mrs. Margery Flynt died, 10 March, 1C86-7, about 
6 of the clock in the morning, and was buried the 12th." " 1687, 
March 10, Mrs. Flynt deceased at Braintree, Thursday." * 

Morton, in his Memorial, makes respectful mention of Mr. Flynt, 
as " a man of known piety, gravity, and integrity, and well accom- 
plished with other qualifications fit for the work of the ministry." 

Mr. Flynt's children t were as follows, viz. Dorothy, born July 21, 
1642; Annah, born Sept. II, 1643; Josiah, born. Aug. 24, 1645; 
Margaret, born June 20, 1647; Joanna, born Feb. IS, 1648; Da- 
vid, born Jan. 11, 1651 ; Seth, born April 2, 1653; Ruth, born Jan. 
31, 1654; Cotton and John, born Sept. 16, 1656. Of these, Mar- 
garet, David, and the twins, Cotton and John, died in infancy. 
Dorothy was married to Mr. Samuel Shepperd, minister of Rowley, 
and son of Rev. Thos. Shepperd of Cambridrre, April 30, 1666, by 
Capt. Gookins. Annah, or Hannah, which is doubtless the same, 
was married to John Dassitt, Nov. 15, 1662, by Major Millar. Jo- 
anna was married to Mr. Noah Numan (Newman), probably son of 
Rev. Samuel Newman, minister of Rehoboth, and his successor 
there in the ministry. They were married, Dec. 30, 1669, by Capt. 
Gookins. Seth and Ruth were, one about 15 and the other 14 
years old, when their father died. Josiah t graduated at Harvard 
College, 1664, preached some time in Braintree, after his father's 
decease, and was ordained at Dorchester, 27 Dec. 1671, and died 
16 Sept. 1680, aged 35. To his manuscript journal I have before 
referred. The three first pages of said manuscript contain a family 
record in different hands, partly by himself, and partly perhaps by 
his son. Tutor Flynt. His widow, Mrs. Esther Flynt, § died July 
26* 1737, aged 89, and was buried at Braintry. Henry Flynt, Esq. 1| 
son of Rev. Josiah Flynt, died Feb. 13, 1760, aged 85 years. He 
had been a Tutor in Harvard University upwards of fifty-five years, 
and about sixty years a Fellow of the Corporation, familiarly called 
Father Flynt. He was never settled in the ministry, but preached 
as occasion required ; and he published a volume of sermons, which 
were received acceptably by the public. He lived a bachelor, and 

* Rev. Josiah Flynt's manuscript Journal and Hobart's Diary- 

t Braintree Reg. + Farmer's Gen. Reg. § Josiah Flynt's MS. Diary. 

II This account of Tutor Flynt is taken from Peirce's Hist, of Harv. Univ. 



96 

was noted for his facetiousness and humor mingled with gravity. 
It was proposed in some parish to invite him to take the pastoral 
charge of it ; but objections were made to him on the ground, that 
he was believed not to be orthodox. Being informed of this judg- 
ment of the good people respecting his religion, he coolly observed, 
" I thank God they know nothing about it." In his last sickness, 
Dr. Appleton asked him, if he was entirely willing to leave the 
world. " No," said he, " I cannot say that I am" ; but after a short 
pause, he added, " I don't care much about it." A room is still 
shown, in the house now owned and occupied in this town by 
Daniel Greenleaf, Esq., which goes by the name of Flynt's study, 
and which was used as such by him, when Judge Edmund Quincy, 
who married Dorothy, the sister of Tutor Flynt, occupied the house. 
There is, in the possession of President Quincy, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, a manuscript diary of Tutor Flynt, and likewise a table, 
proved to be his by having a single drawer, exactly of a size to ad- 
mit said diary. 

It has already been stated, that the maiden name of the wife of 
Rev. Henry Flynt of Braintree was Hoar. She was probably sister 
of President Hoar. Mistress Joanna Hoar,* probably their mother, 
died a widow at Braintree, Dec. 21, 1664. "Leonard Hoar,t the 
third President of Harvard College, at which he graduated, in 1650, 
went to England, was a physician and clergyman, and settled as the 
latter, at Wensted, in Essex. He was ejected from office for non- 
conformity, and returned to New England, 1672, and in July was 
elected president, but resigned, 15 March, 1675, and died at Brain- 
tree, 28 Nov. same year. His widow, a daughter of Lord Lisle, 
married Mr. Usher, of Boston, and died 25 May, 1723." She is 
thus spoken of by Mr. Hancock : " His aged and pious relict, the 
late Madam Usher, was brought hither from Boston, and interred 
in the same grave, May 30, 1723, according to her desire." | The 
monument over their remains still stands in our burying ground, 
and bears this inscription : 

" Three precious friends under this tomb-stone lie, 
Patterns to aged, youth, and infancy. 
A great mother, her learned son, with cliild; 
The first and least went free, he was exil'd. 

* Braintree Rccistcr. t Farmer's Gen. Reg. \ Hancock's Cent. Disc. 



97 

In love to Christ, this country, and dear friends, 

lie left his own, cross'd seas, and for amends 

Was here cxtoll'd, envied, all in a breath, 

His noble consort leaves, is drawn to death. 

Strange changes may befall us ere we die, 

Blest tliey who well arrive eternity. 

Gud grant some names, O thou New England's friend, 

Don't sooner fade tlian thine, if times don't mend." 

There is contained in the Mass. Historical Collections a letter, 
dated March 27, 1G61, from Dr. Leonard Hoar, then in England, 
to Josiah Flint, his nephew, at that time about 15 years of age, and 
a Freshman in Harvard College. Edmund Quincy and Joanna 
Hoar, (probably a sister of Dr. Hoar and of Mr. Flynt's wife,) 
were married, July 2G, 1648.* 

Mr. Flynt, the teacher of Braintree church, was possessed of a 
comfortable estate for those times. He made a will, a copy of 
which I have taken from the Suflfolk Probate office. 

" The Will of Henry Flynt, the 24th day of Uth mo. (January) 
1652. t 

" Concerning my children and estate. 1. Until my wife or any 
of the ciiildren marry, I leave all my estate in the power and to the 
wisdom and discretion of my wife for her comfort and bringing up 
of the children. 2. If she should be called away by death, before 
the children be grown to take some care of themselves, and of one 
another, then I leave it to her wisdom to make choice of the next 
person to whom she may commit the care of children and estate. 
3. To my son Josias I give my dwelling house, with those two lots 
it stands upon, which I bought of Richard Wright and Mr. Moses 
Paine deceased, together with all that land of mine now in the occu- 
pation of Win. Vezie, after the decease of his mother. 4. I give 
to my son Seth, my great lot, and half my books, if it please God 
to make him a scholar. 5. If he be brought up to some other 
course of life, then his brother Josins to have them all, and to allow 
him for half in some ])ay suitable to his condition. 6. To my 
daughters, I appoint each of them an hundred pounds, if my estate 
will reach it. 7. If any of my children marry whilst my wife doth 
live and continueth unmarried, I leave it to her wisdom what por- 

* Braintree Register. t Probate Records, Vol. VI. p. 14. 



98 

tion to give at present, though I intend that finally all my young 
children should be made equal. 8. For the present, I know not 
what portion of my estate to assign to my wife, in case God call 
her to marriage, otherwise than as the law of the country does pro- 
vide in that case, accounting all that I have too little for her, if I 
had something else to bestow upon my children." 

" Richard Brackett, ait. 56 years, or thereabouts, deposed saith, 
that about four days before the late Mr. Henry Flynt departed this 
life, himself and Airs. Joanna duinsey being with him, they heard 
him say he had made and written his Will, which being now pro- 
duced under Mr. Flynt's own hand, which they well knew to be so, 
and the sum and substance thereof he himself repeated to them, 
only said that his son Josias being grown up should be his Execu- 
tor, with his wife Executrix. 

" Taken upon oath by the said Richard Brackett before the Gov- 
ernor, Capt. Gookin ; and recorded 2 July, 1668, who allowed of 
the Will hereby proved. 

" Edward Rawson." 

In the absence of anything else, either written or printed, from 
the pen of Mr. Flynt, I have thought the above Will might be in- 
serted here as a relic of old times. 



L. Page 43. 

" After the decease both of the Pastor and Teacher," observes 
Mr. Hancock, " the church fell into unhappy divisions, one being 
for Paul, and another for Apollos, (as is too often the case in desti- 
tute churches,) and were without a settled ministry above four years, 
viz. from April 27, 1668, to Sept. 11, 1672."* 

The following extract, from the manuscript of Rev. Josiah Flynt, 
before alluded to, may help to explain the causes of the dissensions 
which continued for so long a time. 

* Hancock's Cent. Discourse. 



99 

" On 6. S*"". 1668.* Persons (D. B. and U.Q.t) came to me to 
desire me from several of the church, though not from the whole, 
to exercise in Braintree church. 

" On 10. 3"°. '68. The Elder came to me to go to meeting, but 
went away before, and made a proposition to the church whether 
they were willing I should preach. JMany uncomfortable expres- 
sions passed about, but at last Deacon Bass and D. El.^ came, in 
the name of the church, to desire me to come and preach, to which 
not knowing any thing I yielded. 

" On 11. 3"'^ The church set apart a day to seek the Lord by 
fasting and prayer. 

" On 13. 4™°. I preached again in Braintree. 

"On 26. 4"^°. The church passed a vote to call Mr. Woodw:§ 
and me to probation. 

" On 14. 5"°. Mr. Eliott, Mr. Thatcher, Mr. Stoughton, and 
Mr. Torry came, being desired by the church to give advice about 
the vote. 

" 20. 5™°. The vote of the church was brought to me, in the 
name of the church, by Deacon Bass, Capt. Brackett, Mr. Paine, 
Mr. Q,uinsey, Goodman Faxon. 

"27. o™°. The Messengers came to me again, and brought the 
vote the Elders' letter. 

"23. 6'"°. The Elders forementioned sent a letter to the church, 
which was read publicly. 

" 6. 9™". The church set apart. 

" 13. 9"°. The church had a meeting. 

" 16. 9"°. The messengers of the church came for a determi- 
nate answer. 

" 17, 9'"°. The church of Christ at Cambridge village sent me a 

call. 

" 23. 9"'°. Messengers came from Cambridge village for my an- 
swer. 

" 26. 9"'°. I gave an answer to N. Town H in writing. 

" 29. I gave my answer to Braintree church according to 

the vote. 

* It will be remembered, that March was the first month of the year. 
t These abbreviations probably stand for Deacon Bass or Brackett and 
Uncle Quinsey. 

t Deacon Eliot, probably. § Woodward, perhaps. 

II The ancient name of Cambridge was Newtown. 



100 

" 13. 10™°. 1 engaged to help the church wholly for the winter, 

" 12. IS-"". The church had a meeting. 

"28. 1""°. 1G69. Being a Sabbath day, the church had a very 
uncomfortable debate after a solemn admonition. 

" 9. 2™°. 1669. Deacon B.* and Goodman Sheaf came to speak 
with me. 

" 11. 2™°. I gave a full answer to the church at Cambridge vil- 
lage. 

'"24. 2'"°. I gave in answer to the church, that I desired relief, 
being oppressed in body and mind. 

" 6. 3"'°. '69. The church had a meeting. 

"22. 3""°. Many if not most of the church went away to Milton 
to hear Mr. Th.t 

" 20. 4""°. Being a Sabbath day, there was a very uncomfortable 
debate in the church. 

" 18. 5""°. Some of the brethren desired a time of solemn seek- 
ing of God jointly by fasting and prayer : it was denied. 

" 23. 5""°. Some of the church set apart a day of fasting and 
prayer. This day there was an awful division. 

"25. 5*"°. God sent a very solemn, awakening message to the 
church by Mr. Eliot from 6. Jer. 29. 30. 

" The honored Major Lusher | and Rd. Mr. Allin sent letters to 
the church to advise them to unity and peace, certifying the 
thoughts of some of the Elders to send in a council uncalled for. 

" 2. 6""°. '69. The church had a meeting, disannulled their last 
vote, and passed a new vote. 

"They sent Deacon Bass, Mr. Q. § Goodman Bel:|| and Faxon 
to desire my help constantly. I deferred my answer. Deacon 
Bass, Mr, Paine, and Mr. duinsey went to carry the vote of the 
church to Mr. B.*|] Mr. Bulkley delayed his answer till the com- 
mencement, 10, 6'"°. '69, and then desired further time. 

" 22. 6""°. Mr. Bulkley came to us. 

" 8. 7'"°. '69. The whole town met to consider what they would 
allow. 

" 3. 9""°. The church had a meeting. 

" 15. 9™°. The church had a meeting, and concluded to allow 

* Deacon Bass, probably. t Mr. Tliatclicr, probably, 

t This person belonged to Dedham, and was prominent in his day. 
§ Quinsey. || Belcher. II Bulkley. 



101 

60 pounds pr. annum to each, and the use of the town land for a 
pasture. The Elder with the greatest part of the church came to 
certify us of it. 

" IG. ll"i°. The church stayed after meeting, and agreed to 
meet on Gth day following, 

"21. ll"'°. Tile church met and acknowledged several things 
scandalous and offensive, one to another. 

" 7. 12"°. I helped the church again wholly for a while. 

" 1. l'"". 1670. The church (moved by Mr. Bulkley) set apart a 
day for public prayer and fasting. 

" 28. 1'"°. The church had a meeting, and passed an act of 
election for Mr. Bulkley and me. Deacon Bass, Mr. Paine, Mr. 
Quinsey, and Goodman Belcher came as messengers to us, but said 
nothing of the matter of the vote, for it was not single. 

"31. 1""°. The messengers came to Mr. Bulkley and afterward 
to me. We jointly desired time to consider. 

" 3. 2'"°. 1670. The church of Dedham writ a letter, and chose 
messengers to come and inquire in this church's state the next S.* 

" 19. 2""". I gave my judgment, if not my answer, to the vote, 
it being proposed to me in general by the Elders. Dedham mes- 
sengers hearing what was done by the church on 28. 1™°. were pre- 
vented coming this day to us. 

" 20. 2""°. Some of the church (having heard of a writing given 
by their brethren and accepted by Mr. B.,t which raised a strong 
jealousy in them that they had engaged him to themselves) sent a 
messenger, Capt. Brackett, to certify Mr. B. how the matter stood. 

" Letters were sent to Dedham, Cambridge, Roxbury, Weymouth, 
to this purpose : 

" ' RJ. and Bel*^. As we presume you have not been wholly ig- 
norant of or void of sympathy with us in our distress, t 

" 24. 2"'°. Mr. Eliott preached here, and prevented much evil 
intended. 

" 12. S""". The Question about the vote was by Mr. Bulkley 
propounded to the Elders. 

" l.j. 3'"". Mr. Phil.§ helped the church, and so moderated their 
spirits. 

• Sabbath, probably. t Bulkley, probably, 

t The letter missive is left in the manuscript incomplete. 
§ Phillips, perhaps. 



102 

" 31. '3™°. The church had a meeting, and concluded jointly to 
send to six churches for their messengers. 

" 5. 4'"°. The church had debate, wherein much provocation to 
God and each other did appear. They sent to Mr. Bulkley, but he 
refused to come, till the meeting of the Council was over." 

It seems, also, by a document contained in the manuscript journal 
of Mr. Josiah Flynt, that he had been harged, by certain of the 
brethren of Braintree church, with uttering " divers dangerous 
heterodoxies, delivered, and that without caution, in his public 
preaching." The matter was referred to several highly respected 
individuals, who vindicate him from the charge which was brought 
against him. 

Mr. Flynt received a call from Dorchester, and was settled over 
the church in that town, in the year 1G70. He died there in 1680. 

Mr. Peter BulUley, who was candidate at the same time with 
Mr. Flynt, was probably a son of the first minister of Concord. 



M. Pages 44, 45. 



Moses Fiske, it has already been stated, was the son of Mr. 
John Fiske, the first minister of Wenham and Chelmsford. His 
father was born in England in IGOl, and was educated at Cam- 
bridge. He came to this country in 1637, bringing with him a 
larcre property. He lived three years at Salem, preaching to the 
church, and instructing a number of young persons. When a 
church was gathered in Enon, or Wenham, Oct. 8, 1644, he was 
settled tliere as minister. In 1656 he removed to Chelmsford, then 
a new town, with the majority of his church. He died, Jan. 14, 
1677. He was a skilful physician, as well as an excellent minis- 
ter.* 

The occasion and reasons of Mr. Moses Fiske's first visit to 
Braintree, with an account of the formation of the connexion that 
resulted from it, are given below, as I find them recorded in his own 
hand-writing, t 

* See Allen's Biographical Dictionary, and Mather's Magnaha. 
t Braintree Chinch Records. Book 1. 



103 

" Being ordered by the Court, and advised by tiie reverend Elders 
and other friends, T went up from tlie honored Mr. Edwd. Tyng's, with 
two of the brethren of this church, sent to accoinpaiiy me {:i. 10 mo., 
1671) being the Saturday, to preach God's word unto tlicm, a tran- 
script of which order, &lc. follows verbatim. 

" At a County Court held at Boston, by adjournment, the 23d 
of Nov. 1671. The Court having taken into consideration the 
many means that have been used with tlie Church of Braintrce, and 
hitherto nothing done to effect, as to tlie obtaining the ordinances of 
Christ amongst them, this Court therefore orders and desires Mr. 
Moses Fiske to improve his labors in preaching the word at Brain- 
tree, until the Church there agree and obtain supply for the work 
of the ministry, or this court take further order. This a true copy, as 
" Attest, Fkeeurace Bendall, Clerk. 

"3. 10. 71. After evening exercise was ended, I apologized as 
to my coming, &,c. 

"4. 10. 71. About 20 of the brethren came to visit at Mr. Flynt's, 
manifesting (in the name of the church) their ready acceptance of 
what the Honored Court had done, (having received and perused 
their order, with letters sent to their Townsmen respecting their 
duty towards their minister,) and thanking me for my compliance 
therewith. 

" 24. 12. 71. The Church, by their messengers (Capt. Brackett, 
Lieut. Quinsey, Deacon Bass, John Doscet, sen., Gregory Belchar, 
Will. Veazy, sen., Saml. Tompson) did jointly and unanimously de- 
sire my settlement amongst them, and that in order to office. 

" 14. 2. 72. Having advised, I gave the church, after evening 
exercise was finished, (being often urged thereto,) an answer of ac- 
ceptance, through God's assistance, understanding the concurrence 
of the neighbors which was partly expressed, partly tacit. 

'■'5. 3. 72. The Church passed a vote of Election (3 or 4 sus- 
pending, who after acceptance, (Lc, manifested their hearty concur- 
rence). 

" 18. 6. 72. This day joined with this church, (having obtained 
letters of recommendation and dismission from the Church of Christ 
at Chelmsford, by means of Capt. Brackett and Deac. Eliot sent to 
that end,) Deacon Bass being desired pro tempore to be the mouth 
of the Church. Also I gave my answer of acceptance to their call to 
office, the Rev. Elders and others advising and often renewing their 
request to that end. 



104 

" 11. 7. 72. This was the day of my solemn espousals to this 
Church and Congregation, being elected to the office of a Pastor to 
them. The churches present, by their messengers, were these; three 
at Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, and Weymouth, six churches. Mr. 
Eliot prayed and gave the charge ; Mr. Oxenbridge and the Deacons 
joined in the laying on hnnds ; Mr. Thatcher gave the right hand of 
fellowshij). Dcp. (iov. Leverit, Mr. Danforth, Mr. Tynge, and Mr. 
Stoughton were present." 

In the Town Records,* in connexion with the subject of providing 
a house for the Minister, a vote is found directing tliat a bargain 
with Mr. Samuel Tompson should be concluded for his house, orch- 
ard, &/C., and then the following : 

" At the same Town meeting (18 June, 1G72) it was voted that 
the town of Braintree would give to Mr. Moses Fiske the just sum 
of £{iO in money, as by a town rate, and he to make provision for 
himself as housing, or else to live in a town house provided for 
the ministry. And the house and land bought by the town, of 
brother Saml. Tompson, being about 5 acres and a half, or (j acres, 
to be fenced, and housing set in good repair." 

And again the following : 

" 1674, Oct. 20. At a public town meeting it was voted and 
consented to by the major vote, that our Pastor, Mr. Moses Fiske, 
should have c£SO for this year — 74, in wood part and corn, at the 
country rate price, t which was barley 4^., pease 45., Indian 35., 
malt As." 

" Mr. Fiske died here, Aug. 10, 1708, in the G6th year of his age, 
and 3Gth of his pastorate. In the time of his ministry 147 mem- 
bers were added to the church, including himself Baptisms 779. 
No baptisms recorded in the time of vacancy." | On his tomb stone, 
which is still standing in our burying place, is this inscription : 

" Braintree ! Thy prophet's gone, this tomb inters 
The Rev. Moses Fiske his sacred herse. 
Adore heaven's praiseful art that formed the man, 
Who souls not to himself, but Christ oft won : 
Sail 'd through the straits with Peter's family, 
Renown 'd, and Gaius' hospitality, 
Paul's patience, James's prudence, John's sweet love, 
Is landed, enter 'd, clear 'd, and crown 'd above." 

* Braintree Town Records, Book I. 

t " Country rate ; " that is, the rate at which the articles specified were 
taken in payment of tnxes. + TIanrork's Cent. Disc. 



105 

His will and an inventory of his estate I have found in the Suf- 
folk Probate Records. 

Mr. Fiske was twice married. His lirst marriage is thus re- 
corded : * 

"iMr. Moses Fiske of Braiutree and Mrs. Sarah Symmes, daugh- 
ter of Mr. Wni. Symmes of Charleston, married 9, 7 mo. 1671 by 
Capt. Gookin, assistant." By this wife, he was favored with four- 
teen children, whose names, and the dates of whose births are thus 
recorded : t 

"The names of the children of Rev. Mr. Moses Fiske, by Mrs. 
Sarahj his wife, entered 29 Jany., 1G95- 6, viz. 
Mrs. Mary born 25 Aug., 1613. 
" Sarah " 22 Sept., 1674. 

" Martha " 25 Nov., 1675, and died 2S same mo. 
" Anna " 17 Aug., 1677, died 9 June, '78. 

" Ann " 29 Oct., 167S. 

" Elizabeth " 9 " 1679. 

Mr. John " 29 May, 1681, died, 5 Aug., same yr. 

" Moses " 19 July, 16S2. 

" John " 26 Nov., 1684. 

" William " 2 Aug., 16S6. 

" Samuel " 19 Feb., 16S7, died 4 March. 

6 Apr., 16S9. 
Mrs. Ruth " 24 Mar., 1692, died 6 June. 

Mr. Edward " 20 Oct., 1692, died 25 of the same. 

Mrs. Sarah, wife of Mr. Moses Fiske, died 2 Dec. 1692. Mr. 
Fiske's second wife was Mrs. Anna duinsey. She was the daugh- 
ter of the Rev. Thos. Shepard of Charlestown.j Their marriage 
is thus recorded : " Rev. Moses Fiske and Mrs. Anna Ouinsey 
married 7 Jany. 1700 by Samuel Sewall Esq."§ — By her lie had two 
children, namely, Mr. Shepard, son of Rev. Moses Fiske and Anna, 
born 19 April, 1703, and Mrs. Margaret, born 16 Dec. 1705. Mr. 
Fiske's second wife died, 24 July, 1708, less than three weeks be- 
fore his own decease. 

Of Mr. Fiske's children, it will be seen by the list already given, 
six died in infancy. The eldest daughter, Mary, married Rev. 
Joseph Baxter, minister of Medfield, and a native of Braintree. 

* Braintree Reg. < Ibid. t Fairfield's Diary. § Biaintree Reg. 

14 



106 

Sarah is mentioned in her father's will, as " late consort of Rev. Thos. 
Ruggles." AnnFiske was married to Rev. Joseph Marsh,* the suc- 
cessor of her father in Braintree, by Colonel Edmund Quinsey, Esq., 
30 June, 1709. Elizabeth is called in the will, Elizabeth Porter. 
Of Moses and William I find no account ; and nothing respecting 
John, with the exception of his admission to the church, 2G, 6 mo. 
1705. In Fairfield's Diary, it will be seen that a John Fiske 
preached in Braintree in 1710, and there graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege one of this name in 1702. Samuel graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege in 1708. He was chosen, says Mr. Lincoln, t 11 Feb. 1716-17, 
minister of Hingham, as successor to Mr. Norton, but did not see fit 
to accept. He was ordained over the First Church in Salem, Oct. 8, 
1718, and was afterwards minister of the Third Church in Salem, 
and died 7 April, 1770, aged 81. 

Shepard, son of Mr. Fiske by his second wife, was " graduated at 
Harvard College 1721, was a physician at Killingly, Conn, and at 
Bridgewater, Mass., died 14 June, 1779, /E. 77. t Margaret Fiske 
was married to Rev. Nathan Bucknam of Medway, January 23, 
1727-8, by Mr. Hancock." 

I do not know that any of Mr. Fiske's writings were ever pub- 
lished. He preached the sermon before the Artillery Company, on 
the day of their annual election, June 4, 1694, and the original 
sermon, in the hand-writing of the author, is in the archives of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society. The text is taken from Eph. vi. 
14 : " Stand (therefore)." The preacher applies the text to the 
spiritual warfare which every Christian must carry on in this world 
under his great Captain General, Jesus Christ. 

A passage taken from the conclusion of this discourse will an- 
swer as a specimen. 

" Take the whole armor of God, put it on, wear it and use it. 
You 'II need every piece of it. You cannot stand without it ; the 
girdle of truth, breastplate of righteousness, &c., that you may 
withstand, and having done all may stand ; stand so. See that you 
stand true and faithful to Jesus Christ and to his word. Keep the 
word of his patience. Stand by the Gospel ministry, for by it the 
powers of darkness are vanquished and kingdom of Satan de- 
stroyed. This opens a magazine of arms and furniture for your 

* Braintree Register. t History of Hingliam. + Farmer's Gen. Reg. 



107 

souls. God's word is the Tower of David, wherein there hang a 
thousand bucklers, all shields of the mighty. 

" What remains but that you, Gentlemen Soldiers, my fellow sol- 
diers in the spiritual warfare, who have called me to this work, and 
desired to inquire of God this day, be true to the Captain of your 
salvation, your Lord and ours. Take courage and go on in your 
military discipline, that you may be as those children that resemble 
their Captain and their King ; like those that could handle the 
sword, and were expert in war. This Captain of salvation, who 
is the Prince of peace, is a man of war; the art military is of God. 
This art is taught by him who is the Captain of the Lord's Host. 
'Tis observable that some of the most renowned' worthies in the 
spiritual warfare have been expert commanders in the art military. 
Abraham had his trained soldiers. Moses, the Captain of the wilder- 
ness, led the Israelites and kept them in a military posture. And 
David, who was a man after God's own heart, was a brisk and 
brave commander. Labor for the courage, skill, and conduct, 
which may make able and e.xpert soldiers and commanders, and read 
Ps. cxlvii. 7, 8. 

"Finally, Be strong, O Zerubbabel, be strong O Joshua; be 
strong, O all ye Christian soldiers ; watch ye, stand fast in the faith, 
quit yourselves like men ; be strong; be strong in the Lord and in 
the power of his might. Let me add this word, and I have done. 
You that are the Governors of Judah, and those of the tribe of 
Levi, my brethren and fathers, who are set for the defence of the 
Gospel, you all that have listed under the Lord Jesus, your leader in 
the Christian warfare, of what calling and employment soever, lift 
up your iicads, and go on manfully, and prosecute this holy war 
against the enemies of God and your souls; fight it out to the last; 
that when you come to die, you may with that great warrior be able 
to say : ' we have fought a good fight, we have finished our course, 
we have kept the faith ; henceforth is laid up a crown of righteous- 
ness which God shall give,' &bc. .Amen." 

It is rather a singular fact, and this seems to be the place to men- 
tion it, that in the Inventory of Mr. Fiske's estate, one item is as 
follows: " His armor." 

Fairfield's Diary has been already alluded to. It was presented 
to the Library of the Historical Society, by Rev. Dr. Harris. The 
author of the Diary appears to have been a mason by trade. The 



108 

manuscript consists of memoranda respecting the places where he 
worked, and notices of such events and occurrences as seemed im- 
portant to the writer. It does not contain much of any great 
value. But the true antiquary, like the true lover of the angle, 
makes much of a nibble in the waters of the past, if he can catch 
no fish. And so I give an extract from said Diary. It runs for- 
ward, as will be observed, a little distance into Mr. Marsh's min- 
istry. 

" 1697, May 13. A fasting day, our Church in Braintree renewed 
Covenant. 

" Dec. 17. I watched with Mr. Quinsey. 

" 1G97-8, Jany. 8. Mr. Quinsey died, a pious and godly man, 
a Justice of the Peace for this County, and Lt. Col. of this Reg. 

" Jan. 10. Helped dig Mr. Quinsey's grave, frost is one and 
near two feet thick. 

" Jan. 1 1. Made an end of digging, bricked tlie grave — weather 
warm. 

" Jan. 12. Mr. duinsey decently buried — three foot companies 
and one troop at his funeral. 

" 1697-8, April. We, in Braintree, chose a Committee to seat 
persons in the meeting house. Deacon Wales, Deacon Bass, Mr. 
Hobart, Martin Saunders, John Ruggles, sen. They did the work, 
though not to general satisfaction. The first Sabbath in April peo- 
ple took their places, as many as saw good so to do. 

" 1699, Sept. 16. I carted stones for Mr. Quinsey's tomb. 

"Sept. 19. 

" As to this Sept. past I did not hear of any great matter, only the 
woods swarmed much with bears — many were killed, and more 
escaped. 

" Oct. 5. Went to Boston to lecture. Mr. Fiske preached. 

"1699-1700, Jan. 1. Very cold — old Lawrence Copeland 
buried, aged 100 yrs., who died last Saty., Dec. 30. 

" March 23. Mended Doctor Hoar's monument. 

" June 19. Meeting to nominate deacons. 

" Novem. 30. Among ourselves died several, the most consider- 
able of whom was Mrs. Elizabeth Quinsey, widow of Lt. Col. 
Edmd. Quinsey Esq., she was sick many weeks and underwent 
much sorrow and dolor; and after all fell asleep quietly in the Lord, 
and was with great solemnity interred, Dec. 5, 1700. 



109 

" 1700- 1, Jan. 7. Mr. Fiske married to Mrs. Anna Quinsey, 

" Jan. 8. I was at Mr. Fiske's, he brought homo his bride. 

"Jan. 26. A day of f;isting and prayer in Braintree. Mr. 
Wales ordained a ruling elder of the Church in Braintree. 

" 1704, July 9. Sabbath, Mr. Fiske sick, Mr. Veasy preached 
forenoon, Mr. Flynt afternoon. 

" July 16. Mr. Loring preached all day in B., Mr. Fiske being 
sick. 

"July 23. Mr. Ransom of Mendon preached all day. 

" Nov. 10. I was at home all day, the meeting at my house, 
Mr. Fiske read a sermon of his own, 1 Cor. ii. 32. 

" 1704 - 5, Jan. In this month past we had two Church meetings in 
Braintree which occasioned much debate and some misapprehension, 
about Church discipline ; by reason whereof we had much sinful 
discourse in this town; for, as the wise man saith, in the multitude 
of words there wants not sin : which words and debates caused such 
differences as that it was the beginning of the separation of the 
Town and Church, and the erecting a meeting house and forming a 
Congregation at Monatoquod. Nine of the church withdrew from 
the Lord's table, and in many things acted so disorderly, as that it 
occasioned a council of the elders and messengers of nine churches, 
who met in the old meeting house in Braintree, May 7, 1707. Mr. 
Nehemiah Ilobart of Newtown was chosen moderator. The disor- 
ders among us call for tears and lamentations, rather than to be re- 
membered. 

" 1705, March 16. Died, the Rev. Mr. Edward Thompson, 
Pastor of the Church of Christ in Marshfield ; he died very sud- 
denly, JEt. near 40 yrs. 

" 1706, May 2. A new house was raised in Braintree, for a 
meeting house. The matter hath been hitherto carried on in a way 
of great contention and disorder. 

" 1707, April 27. The Sabbath, at night a council chosen to 
hear our aggrieved brethren. 

" May 7. We being involved in troubles, here in Braintree, 
called a council of nine churches, who assembled the 7th day here 
in B. What the issue was, we shall take notice of afterwards. 

" 1707, Sept. 10. Mr. Adams was ordained at the new church 
in the south part of Braintree. 

" 1708, July 2.5. The Sabbath, Mr. Fiske sick, Mr. Flynt 
preached all day. 



no 

" July 26. Opened Mr. Fiske's tomb. 

" July 27. At Mr. Fiske's all day about the funeral of Mrs. Fiske. 
"On the 24t]i of this month died, in Braintree, Mrs. Anna 
Fiske, the wife of Mr. Moses Fiske, in the 45th year of her age. 
" 1708, Aug. 10. Mr. Fiske died, JEt. Go yrs. 
"All the beginning of this month the Rev. Mr. Moses Fiske, 
Pastor of the Church of Christ in Braintree, lay sick of a sore 
malignant fever ; and on the 10th day, being Tuesday, about one 
of the clock P. M. he died, willingly, patiently, blessed God, and 
forgave all his enemies. To say all that might be said of this holy 
man, far exceeds my poor ability. He was the youngest son of Mr. 
John Fiske, Pastor of the Church in Chelmsford. [Then follows his 
character which has been given in the second Discourse.] He was, 
with suitable solemnity and great lamentation, interred in Braintree, 
in his own tomb, the 12th day, where lie entombed with him the 
bodies of his two wives, Sarah, the daughter of Wm. Syms Esq., 
of Woborn. She died Dec. 2, 1692 ; by her he had 14 children, 
she died in the 40th year of her age. 

" His 2d wife was Anna, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Thos. 
Shepard of Charlestown ; by her he had two children ; she died, 
July 24, 1708. .^t. 45 yrs. 

" 1708, Sept. 15. A day of fasting in B. on account of Mr. 
Fiske's death. Mr. Danforth and Mr. Thacher carried on the day's 
work. 

"Nov. 25. A Thanksgiving, we having no minister, I heard Mr. 
Adams the first time. 

"Oct. 24. Sabbath, Mr. Bridge preached. 

" " 31. " " Marsh 

" Nov. 15. A church meeting to call a minister. 

"P. M. A meeting of the inhabitants. 

" Nov. 23. A precinct meeting. 

" Dec. 13. I warned a meeting to consult about receiving Mr. 
Marsh. 

" Dec. 16. At Mr. Fisk's all day helping to prepare for Mr. 
Marsh ; he came at night attended with the most of the inhabitants 
of this precinct. 

" 1708-9, Jan. 17. A general town meeting to vote what to 
give Mr. Marsh. 

" Jan. 28. A precinct meeting voted to give Mr. M. .£100. 
.€70 pr. annum. 



Ill 

" Feb. 14. A precinct meeting about Mr. Marsh. 

"March 14. A meeting of this precinct, Mr. Marsh gave an an- 
swer of his acceptance. 

" 1709, May 4. A fast in our church, in order to ordination. 

'• May 18. Mr. Marsh ordained. 

" On the ISth day was ordained, here in Braintree, the Rev. Mr. 
Joseph Marsh, to the office of a Pastor over the church in the North 
Precinct, a person of singular accomplishments, both natural and 
acquired. 

"July 3. The Sabbath, sacrament, the first time Mr. Marsh 
administered. 

"July 31. The Sabbath, Mr. Flint preached from 11. Matt, 
xxviii. 

" Aug. 5. Ceiled Mr. Quinsey's pew. 

" Oct. 2. The Sabbath, this day I heard a choice sermon on 
Ps. xix. and 12. ' Who can understand his errors ; ' which hath 
caused me to reflect on the past sinful errors of my life, all which 
I beg of God to forgive me. This day also Mr. Marsh preached on 
Isai. 55. and 7., wherein I was encouraged to return to the Lord, 
that I may obtain pardon and forgiveness. 

" 1709-10, Feb. 19. Sabbath, sacrament. The advice of the 
ministers read for reconciliation. The South Church's acknowledg- 
ment read and accepted. 

" March 8. A fast on the account of the late disturbances in the 
town and Church. Mr. Danforth and Mr. Thacher of Milton 
preached. 

"March 19. Sabbath, Mr. Adams preached in our meeting 
house. 

" 1710, April 30. The Sabbath, a gathering to print two ser- 
mons. 

" Aug. 13. Mr. Mayhew preached from ii. Heb. 3. 

" Aug, 20. Mr. John Fiske preached. 

"Oct. 29. Sabbath, Mr. John Fiske preached. 

"Mrs. Mary Baxter, wife of the Rev. Mr. Joseph Baxter, died, 
after a long and sore sickness, March 29, 1711. She was the eldest 
daughter of the Rev. Mr. Moses Fiske, died in the 38th year of her 
age. 

" Mrs. Helen French, the mother of Wm. Veasie, and daughter 
of Rev. Mr. Wm. Tompson, deceased, died, Apr. 23. ^Et, 85 yrs. 
1711, an aged saint." 



112 

(Who is meant by the person last mentioned, I cannot satisfy 
myself.) 

The most important ecclesiastical occurrence, during Mr. Fiske's 
ministry, was the division of the Town into separate Precincts; 
and this seems to have been the only occurrence that disturbed the 
tranquillity of his ministry. The first mention of the subject in 
the Town Records is as follows: * 

" Nov. 25, 1700. Proposed, that, whereas there were two meet- 
ing houses erected in this Town, whether the South End shall be a 
congregation by themselves for the worship and service of God. It 
was then voted by the major part of said inhabitants on the affir- 
mative." 

And again : 

" Nov. 3, 1708. The inhabitants of Braintree being met, &c. 
It was then voted, that there should be two distinct precincts or so- 
cieties in this Town, for the more regular and convenient uphold- 
ing of the worship of God." 

The separation of the town into two precincts was agreed to 
and confirmed, by the General Court, Nov. 5, 1708. But before 
this result was reached, there had been much excitement and con- 
troversy. It appears from Fairfield's Diary, an extract from which 
has been given, that as early as in January, 1704-5, there had been 
"much debate and some misapprehensions about church discipline," 
and this he considers " the beginning of the separation of the town 
and church, and the erecting a meeting house and forming a con- 
gregation at Monatoquod." The writer of the Diary probably ex- 
aggerated the influence of this difference, in producing a division 
of the town. The heat that grew out of this difference very likely 
hastened the time of doing what, from necessity, must soon have 
been accomplished. The south part of the town had increased, 
and it must have been very inconvenient for those who resided there 
to come so far to meeting. At all events, the difficulties and dissen- 
sions were so great, that a council of elders and messengers was 
called, as the Diary states. The decision of this Council I have 
found in the archives of the State, together with the several peti- 
tions and counter petitions, from both parties, to the General Court. 
They are among the old documents which Mr. Felt has disposed 

* Braintree Town Records, Book I. 



113 

and arranged so faithfully, and so conveniently for the purposes of 
reference. The papers are too long to be inserted here, nor is it 
important to do so, even if there were abundant space. The con- 
troversy affected Mr. Fiske's comfort, inasmuch as there was a le- 
gal question involved, namely, whether they of the south end of 
the town, who withdrew, were liable for their proportion of Mr. 
Fiske's salary, which had been voted at the regular town meeting. 
Fairfield gives May 2, 1706, as the date of " a new house being 
raised in Braintree for a meeting-house." This was more than two 
years before they were allowed, by the civil authority, to be a dis- 
tinct precinct, and this circumstance would lead one to presume, 
that there was haste and irregularity in the matter, which they fully 
acknowledged afterward in an address to the General Court, a copy 
of which is before me. 

In one of their petitions they state the reasons which moved them 
to take the step they did. They say : " The old meeting-house in 
the said town being built many years ago, when the town was small, 
was accommodated, for both situation and measure, to the circum- 
stances of the town in that day, and is altogether inconvenient 
for the town, that is, the whole town, in its present circumstances, 
and as it is now situated, in two distinct parts, considerabjy distant 
one from the other, and not large enough to contain, with comfort, 
above two thirds of the inhabitants. The aforesaid inhabitants of 
the south end of the town, finding it very irksome, especially in 
the winter, to come so far as most of them come to meetino-, and 
through such bad ways; whereby the Lord's day, which is a day of 
rest, was to them a day of labor rather; and knowing that tiie in- 
habitants of their part of the town, for numbers, did almost if not 
altogether equalize the other part, who did of themselves, when 
there were few if any inhabitants in the south part, maintain two 
worthy ministers at once to their satisfaction, have made their ap- 
plication to the town, at sundry times, for near a dozen years, at 
their general town meeting, that they would consent to have a 
larger meeting-house built for the whole, which might contain all 
the inhabitants, and might be something nearer to them, the other 
being now at one end of the town. But the other end of the town 
have wholly refused to gratify them in this their reasonable desire, 
and this notwithstanding there was a clear vote that there should be 
a new house built, so long ago as the year 1695, which now stands 
15 



114 

upon record." The paper from which the extract above given has 
been made bears date, Nov. 25, 170G. 

Having proceeded so far as to build a house for public worship, 
the next step taken by the inhabitants of the south part of the town 
was to gather a church, in a regular way, and to ordain a minister, 
which was done, Sept. 10, 1707. Mr. Hugh Adams was their first 
pastor. Having accomplished this much, they next petition the 
General Court, to determine the limits of the two precincts. They 
ask that their precint may be settled according to the "line of di- 
vision already laid out and run between the two military companies 
in Braintree, there being in the north part of the town Col. Ed- 
mund duincy's company, containing seventy-two families, and in 
the south part of the town Capt. John Mills's company, consisting 
of seventy-one families." It may excite a smile to be informed that 
this petition is dated : " From (Naphtali, if your Honors please so to 
name our neighborhood, from Gen. xxx. 8., Matt. iv. 15, IG, or) 
South Braintree, Oct. 28, 1707." However appropriate this name 
might have been at first; we cannot but rejoice that it does not re- 
main, to remind posterity of the " great wrestlings ' between the 
sister churches. The excitement that had grown out of this divis- 
ion of the town gradually subsided ; a reconciliation was effected 
soon after the settlement of Mr. Marsh in the North Precinct ; and 
the harmony of the two parts of the town was completed, by Mr. 
Adams's officiating in the north meeting-house, which he did, ac- 
cording to Fairfield's Diary, March 19, 1709- 10. 



N. Page 46. 

Mr. Joseph Marsh, the fourth minister of Braintree Church, 
was graduated at Harvard College in 1705. 1 have not been able 
to ascertain where he originated. The earliest notice I have dis- 
covered of him is the date of his admission to the Cambridge 
church. He was admitted, according to the records of that church, 
Nov. 28, 1703, and is mentioned as " Joseph Marsh, student." In 
one of the volumes of old papers and documents at the State 



115 

House in Boston, is an order passed by the General Court, 26 May, 
1708, upon complaint being made that the town of Tivcrtown (then 
belonging to Massachusetts) did not comply with the law and provide 
themselves with a minister. This order directs " that Mr. Joseph 
Marsh, minister, be treated with and obtained, if it may be, and 
sent to the said town." There is also in the same volume, a peti- 
tion from Mr. Marsh, dated Feb. 7, 1709, which states that he had 
preached in Tivertown ten Sabbaths, and having received a call to 
settle in Braintree, had obtained a substitute in the former place. 
Mr. Marsh was the first minister after the town was divided into 
two precincts. And the North Precinct Records contain the fol- 
lowing vote. 

" Feb. 14, 1708 - 9. Then voted by the freeholders and other in- 
habitants of the North End Precinct, regularly assembled, to raise 
the sum of £ 70 per annum, to be given to the Rev. Mr. Joseph 
Marsh, upon his settlement with us in the work of the ministry, 
during the time of his performance of that service, beginning the 
1st day of March next. 

" Then also it was voted to give to the said Mr. Joseph Marsh 
£ 100 upon his settlement with us, and that to be final for said set- 
tlement." 

The following extract from the Braintree Town Records will 
show what was the condition of the town at that time. 

" Aug. 31, 1708. The real estate of this town, being valued at 
the yearly income, amounted to the sum total of £ 691 6 .s. The 
personal; oxen 219, cows 738, horses 190, sheep 1375, swine 78 
in number. The polls 195 in number." 

Mr. Marsh was ordained. May IS, 1709, and continued minister 
of the church till his death, which occurred, March 8, 1725-6, in 
the 41st year of his age, and the 17th of his ministry in Braintree. 
He lies buried, says Mr. Hancock, in the same tomb with Mr. 
Fiske. " The number of members added to the church under his 
ministry, including himself, is 102. Baptisms, 288. In the vacan- 
cy between his death and the settlement of his successor, there 
were 8 baptisms." 

Mr. Marsh married Anne Fiske, daughter of his predecessor, as 
has already been stated in another note, 30 June, 1709. His chil- 
dren by her were Joseph, born 7 Dec. 1710; Hannah, born 10 
Feb. 1715- 16 ; Anne, born 15 April, 1722 ; Anne, born 23 Oct. 



116 

1724.* Besides these the Church Records contain, in his hand- 
writing, the baptism of his daughter Mary, Feb. 2, 1718. Joseph 
kept for many years a private classical school in this town. Of 
Hannah nothing has been discovered. The first Anne probably 
died in infancy. Anne Marsh the second was married to Col. Jo- 
siah Quincy, by Mr. Wibird, July 11, 17G2. Mary Marsh was 
married to Rev. Jedediah Adams of Stoughton, by Mr. Briant, 
May 19, 1746. The widow of Mr. Marsh survived him many 
years. In the will of his successor, Mr. Hancock, is a small legacy 
of i€ 5 to " Mrs. Ann Marsh, relict of my Rev. Predecessor." I 
have met with no publication by Mr. Marsh. Under date of April 
30, 1710, is the following entry in Fairfield's Diary. "The Sab- 
bath. A gathering to print two sermons." From this one would 
be led to infer that two of Mr, Marsh's sermons were printed at that 
time. 



O. Page 47. 

Mr. John Hancock, the fifth minister of the church, was son of 
the Rev, John Hancock, for a long time minister of that part of the 
town of Cambridge now called Lexington. His father seems to 
have been highly respected, and so great was his influence, that he 
went in the neighboring churches by the name of Bishop Hancock. 
In the Records of Cambridge First Church, it is entered : that John 
Hancock, Student, was admitted to full communion, Dec. 21, 1718. 
The subject of this note graduated at Harvard University in 1719. 
The following is taken from the Braintree North Precinct Records. 

" June 29, 1726. At a meeting this day, an unanimous call was 
given to Mr. Hancock to settle in the work of the ministry. A 
yearly salary was at the same time voted of ^"'110, in good and law- 
ful bills of public credit on this Province, for his support. And a 
settlement of =£'200, in good and lawful bills of public credit, was 
also voted." Mr. Hancock's answer to the invitation to settle in 
Braintree is contained in the Precinct Records, dated from Cam- 

* Braintree Register. 



117 

bridge. The account of his ordination that follows is extracted 
from the first book of our Church Records, and the original is in 
his own hand-writing. 

" On Wednesday, Nov. "2, 1726. Mr. John Hancock was ordain- 
ed the Pastor of the church of Christ in the North Precinct of 
Braintree, by the solemn imposition of the hands of the presbytery. 
The churches sent unto and desired to be present at the solemnity 
were the churches of Cambridge, Lexington, Dorchester 1st Church, 
Milton, Braintree South Church, Weymouth 1st Church, and Hing- 
ham 1st Church. The Rev. Mr. John Danforth made the first 
prayer. My honored father, the Rev. Mr. Hancock of Lexington, 
preached the sermon from 24 Luke, 49. The Rev. Mr. Thacher 
gave the charge ; and the Rev. Mr. Danforth the right hand of fel- 
lowship. The Rev. Mr. Niles, and Mr. Appleton, laying on hands. 
His letter of dismission from the church of Cambridge was read at 
the same time by the Rev. Mr. Hancock. The auditory was very 
numerous." 

Mr. Hancock continued in the ministry in this place until his 
death, which occurred, May 7, 1744, in the forty-second year of 
his age. He lies in the same tomb with Mr. Fiske and Mr. Marsh ; 
but there is no inscription to his memory. This ought not so to be. 
Mr. Hancock married the widow of Mr. Samuel Thaxter of Hing- 
ham. Her maiden name was Mary Havvke. By her he had three 
children, whose baptisms are thus recorded by his own hand : 
"Mary Hancock, my first-born, April 13, 1735. John Hancock, 
my son, Jan. 16, 1736-7. Ebenezer Hancock, my son, Nov. 22, 
1741." Mary was born 8 April, 1735. John, 12 Jan. 1736-7, 
and Ebenezer, Nov. 15, 1741.* 

John Hancock, son of the minister of Braintree, was graduated 
at Harvard College, in 1754. His fortune, which he received from 
his uncle Thomas Hancock Esq., was ample, and the use he made 
of it liberal and patriotic. His manners were popular. He es- 
poused with ardor the cause of his country, in the commencement 
of the revolutionary conflict. He was early made conspicuous by 
the denunciation levelled against him in connexion with his co- 
patriot, Samuel Adams. He was president of that Congress, which 
made the Declaration of Independence, and was the first to affix 

* Braintree Church Records, Book 1. 



118 

his name to that memorable instrument. He was afterwards Gov- 
ernor of liis native State for many years. The house in which he 
lived in Boston is now occupied by his nephew, and still stands, 
amidst surrounding improvements, an interesting and venerable relic 
of the past. 

The name of Hancock is not only illustrious in the political an- 
nals of our country, but is honorably associated with the University. 
The Hon. Thomas Hancock of Boston, son of the Rev. John Han- 
cock of Lexington, gave a legacy of <£1000 sterling to the " Presi- 
dent and Fellows of Harvard College, the whole income to be ap- 
plied to the support and maintenance of some person, who shall be 
elected by the President and Fellows, with the approbation and con- 
sent of the overseers, to profess and teach the oriental languages, 
especially the Hebrew, in said College." Thus arose " the first 
Professorship founded in New England, or in America, by one of 
its sons." * 

Mr. Hancock of Braintree, in his will, besides the legacy to the 
widow of his predecessor, which has been noticed in another place, 
left £10 to the First Church in Braintree ; and to Harvard College, 
Sir Wm. Temple's works, 3 small folio vols. 

The whole number of Baptisms during Mr. Hancock's ministry, 
was 355. Up to 1739, according to his own account, in one of his 
Century Sermons, there had been added to the church, including 
himself, 105. 

Several individuals, of high and deserved celebrity, have been 
nurtured in the bosom of our church. John Hancock, as has 
been said, was baptized here by his father. John Adams, the 
second President of the United States, was son of a Deacon of the 
Church, was baptized by Mr. Hancock, Oct. 26, 1734-5, became, 
Jan. 3, 1773, a member of the Church, and was, to the close of his 
life, a devout and constant worshipper, in the place where his fathers 
had worshipped before him. The Q,uincys, from the earliest times, 
have lent their influence to support, and their virtues to adorn, the 
institutions of religion here, as well as the institutions of govern- 
ment and learning on a wider theatre. Judge Edmund duincy, 
who died abroad in the service of his country, is affectionately 
mentioned in a sermon preached by Mr. Hancock, after the intei- 

* See Peirce's History of Harvard College. 



119 

ligence was received of his death. John Q,uincy was for forty 
years representative of this town in the General Court, and for 
many years in succession Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives. His name, which appears, in the Town and Precinct Records, 
in connexion with all public meetings, was given to this North Pre- 
cinct of Braintree, when, in 1792, it was set off and incorporated 
as a distinct town. And that name is borne by an individual now 
living, who has ensured to it " a perpetual memory." 

During Mr. Hancock's ministry a new meeting-house was erected 
by the Society. The circumstance is thus related by himself in the 
Records of the Church : 
"Braintree, July 27, 1731. 

" This day the First Parish in this town began to raise and re- 
build an house for the public worship of God. And through the 
divine goodness, the house was finished and dedicated, Oct. 8th, 
1732, iu'peaceable times. The text preached upon at the dedica- 
tion, was. Is. Ix. 13. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was then 
administered. Upon this Sabbath also we began to read the Holy 
Scriptures in public. The portion then read was 1 Kings 8 ch. 
The Sabbath following we began the book of Job and the Gospel 
of St. Matthew. 

" Deo Optimo, maximo, laus et gloria. Madam Norton then 
presented to the Church a very handsome velvet cushion for the 
pulpit." 

The completion of the first century from the gathering of the 
Church occurred also during Mr. Hancock's ministry, and furnished 
an interesting occasion which he noticed appropriately. In the 
Church Records is the following in his hand-writing. 

" The first Church of Christ in Braintree was embodied, Sept. 
17th, 1639.* 

" N. B. On Sept. 16, 1739, being Lord's day, the first Church 
in Braintree, both males and females, solemnly renewed the cove- 
nant of their fathers, immediately before the participation of the 
Lord's Supper. The text preached upon at the solemnity was Ixiii. 
Is. 7." 

The two Discourses, delivered on that interesting occasion, were, 

* This date is altered in the Records, perhaps by Mr. Hancock himself, to 
16th. The testimony of Winthrop, however, who was living and probably 
present at the transaction, fixes th« dale to the 17th beyond question. 



120 

by request of his parishoners, published the same year, with notes 
which furnish valuable information respecting the history of the 
church to which he ministered so faithfully. A second edition of 
these Discourses, with short additional notes, was published at 
the suggestion of the elder President Adams, in 1811. Besides 
these well knowrr Century Discourses, Mr. Hancock, in the year 
1738, on the 23d of April, preached a funeral Sermon, which was 
subsequently printed, on the " death of the Hon. Edmund Quincy 
Esq., one of his Majesty's Council, and of the Judges of the Circuit, 
and agent for the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, at the Court 
of Great Britain, who died, of the small pox in London, the 23d of 
Feb., 1737-8, in the 57th year of his age." The following sen- 
tence, taken from this Sermon, is happily expressed: "The late 
honorable Edmund Q,uincy was a gentleman of bright intellectual 
accomplishments, vailed from his youth up under a great deal of 
modesty, yet manifest to such as have the discerning of spirits." 
" My own loss," he says in another part of the Sermon, " in the 
death of your honored father is none of the least. Very pleasant 
hast thou been unto me. We took sweet counsel together, and 
walked to the house of God in company. Alas my father! my 
father ! my father ! 

" In his affectionate and acceptable letter to me, dated London 
Jan. 31, 1737, in the concluding part of it are these words, namely, 
* My respects to my friends of the church and town, in whose good 
wishes I doubt not but I have an interest.' 

" And in token of his peculiar affection to this church, whereof 
he was a leading member for many years, he has left us an accepta- 
ble legacy in his last will and testament.* He loved us, and how 
was his heart engaged in building us a synagogue?" 

Mr. Hancock's other publications, so far as I have been able to 
discover, were : 

1. " A Discourse upon the good work, delivered at the Monthly 
Tuesday Lecture in Pembrook, Sept. 7, 1742." 

2. " The danger of an unqualified ministry, represented in a Sermon 
preached at the ordination of the Rev. Mr. John Bass, to the Pas- 
toral care of the Church of Christ in Ashford, in the Colony of 
Connecticut, Sept. 7, 1743." 

* See Note P. in Appendix. 



121 

P. Page 49. 

It is the object of this note to give some account of the several 
houses for public worship that have, from time time, been erected 
by the First Congregational Society in this place. Mr. Hancock, 
in one of his Century Discourses, makes the following remark: 
" This is the third house, in which we are now worshipping, that 
we and our fathers have built for the public worship of God." As 
it seems to me altogether improbable, that Mr. Hancock should have 
included any other house besides those which had been erected for 
the use of his own Society, I understand his remark literally. 
There have, therefore, been four meeting-houses erected for the use 
of the First Congregational Society. The old stone meeting-house, 
which stood near the site now occupied by the Second Congregational 
Church, instead of being the first, as it has been frequently called, 
was, if I am right, the second house. My reasons for this supposi- 
tion, besides the construction put upon Mr. Hancock's language, 
are these. First, — it is improbable, and not according to the course 
taken in other towns in the Colony, that a structure, capable of stand- 
ing nearly a century, as that house did, should have been erected by 
the first settlers in this place. The first meeting-house in Boston* 
was erected in 1G32. " Its roof was thatched, and its walls were 
of mud." That frail and humble structure, corresponding so well 
with tlie condition of the settlers in so early a period, did not stand 
long, for we learn from Winthrop,t that in 1639 the old meeting- 
house was sold, "being decayed and too small," and in 1640, that 
is, only eight years after the first was erected, they built a new 
house. The case was the same in Hingham, and we may conclude 
that all the little plantations would be led from necessity to adopt a 
similar course. 

Second. It is rather remarkable that no mention is made, in the 
Braintree Town Records, of the building of tiie old stone meeting- 
house, and I have been disappointed in finding no certain evidence 
of the date of its erection. But the vane which belonged to that 
meeting-house has been preserved, and a wood cut, representing it 
faitlifully, is given in another part of this pamphlet. It will be seen 
that it bears date 1666. This may have been merely the time when 

' Emerson's History of First Ciiurcii Boiitoii 
1 Winthrop's N. England, Savage's Edition. 

16 



122 

the vane was put up ; but the more probable inference seems to be, 
that this was the year when the house itself was erected. However 
we may decide upon this point, it is clear, I think, that the old 
stone meeting-house, humble as it was in its appearance and accom- 
modations, was preceded by another yet more humble. Where 
that first house stood cannot be determined perhaps; probably, 
however, on the same spot where the stone meeting-house stood. 
For in the old Braintree Records, in mentioning the laying out of 
the " Country High-way," from Weymouth to Dorchester, which 
was done 25th 12 mo., 1G40, Braintree meeting-house is spoken of, 
and the road, when it reached Braintree meeting-house, was laid 
out on both sides of it, leaving the meeting-house in the middle of 
the road. The old stone meeting-house was without pews, except 
such as were, in the course of time, built, for their own convenience, 
by individuals. Votes, similar to the following, occur frequently in the 
Town Records, " Jany. 6, 1700-1. Then voted that the Rev. Mr. 
Moses Fiske should have liberty to build a pew by the S. E. window 
in the meeting-house, he leaving convenient passage." The house 
was furnished with seats, and the men were separated from the 
women; and the business of " seating the house," as it was called, 
that is, of assigning to the worshippers the seats they were to oc- 
cupy, was attended with great difficulty, and was the occasion of 
complaint on the part of those who thought too low a seat in the 
synagogue had been assigned to them. 

A description of some of the practices of our fathers, by a 
writer who visited New England soon after its settlement, may be 
found interesting, and may be pertinent in this connexion. He 
thus speaks of their mode of worship. 

"The public worship is in as fair a meeting-house as they can 
provide, wherein, in most places, they have been at great charges. 
Every Sabbath or Lord's day, they come together, at Boston by 
ringing of a bell, about nine of the clock or before. The Pastor 
begins with solemn prayer continuing about a quarter of an hour. 
The Teacher then readeth and expoundeth a chapter ; then a Psalm 
is sung, whichever one of the Ruling Elders dictates. After that 
the Pastor preacheth a Sermon, and som.etimes extempore exhorts. 
Then the Teacher concludes with prayer and a blessing. 

" About two in the afternoon, they repair to the meeting-house 
again ; and then the Pastor begins, as before noon, and a Psalm 



123 

being sung, the teacher makes a Sermon. He was wont, when 1 
came first, to read and expound a chapter, also before his sermon in 
the afternoon. After and before his Sermon, he prayeth. 

"After that ensues Baptism if there be any, which is done, by 
either Pastor or Teacher, in the Deacon's seat, the most eminent 
place in the church, next under the Elder's seat. 

" Which ended, follows the contribution, one of the Deacons say- 
ing, ' Brethren of the Congregation, now there is time left for contri- 
bution, wherefore as God hath prospered you, so freely offer.' — The 
Magistrates and chief Gentlemen first, and then the Elders, and all 
the congregation of men, and most of them that are not of the 
church, all single persons, widows, and women in absence of their 
husbands, come up one after another one way, and bring their offer- 
ings to the Deacon at his seat, and put it into a box of wood for 
the purpose, if it be money or papers; if it be any other chattel, 
they set it or lay it down before the Deacons, and so pass another 
way to their seats again. This contribution is of money, or papers, 
promising so much money. I have seen a fair gilt cup with a 
cover, offered there by one, which is still used at the communion. 
Which moneys and goods the Deacons dispose towards the main- 
tenance of the ministers, and the poor of the Church, and the 
Church's occasions, without making account ordinarily. * 

" Marriages are solemnized and done by the Magistrates, and not 
by the Ministers. At burials, nothing is read, nor any funeral 
Sermon made, but all the neighborhood, or a good company of them, 
come together by tolling of the bell, and carry the dead solemnly 
to his grave, and there stand by him while he is buried. The 
ministers are most commonly present." t 

When to the account, given above, we add that a drum was, in 
the earliest times, used as a substitute for a bell, to call the people 
together, and an hour glass stood before the preacher, instead of a 
clock, to warn hirn when to leave off " handling his subject," we 
may form some idea of the customs that prevailed in the days of 
our fathers. The two following votes also, selected from the Brain- 
tree North Precinct Records, prove that we have escaped some 
annoyances to which our pious fathers were exposed. " March 17, 
1728-9. The Precinct then having debated upon the disturbance 
made by dogs in the meeting-house on Sabbath days, to prevent the 

* Lechford'» Plain Dealing, pp. 76, 77, 78. t Ibid. p. 94. 



124 

same, They then voted, that Joseph Parmenter should have twenty 
shillings, provided he would take care and pains in that matter, by 
beating and keeping of them out. 

" March 30, 1730. It was voted that Joseph Parmenter should 
have twenty shillings for his service as Precinct clerk, and clearing 
the meeting-house of snow, the year past, there having been cart 
loads of snow blown in." 

As early as 1695, in November, a vote was passed at a regular 
town meeting, that a new meeting-house should be built. The house 
contemplated by this vote would have been for the whole town. 
This is the vote to which the inhabitants of the south part of the 
town refer, in their memorial to the General Court, setting forth 
their reasons for withdrawing themselves from the north part of the 
town, and building a house for their. own separate accommodation. 
The vote passed in 1695 was not carried into effect, but the old 
house was repaired, and was occupied for worship, until a new one 
was at length built, in Mr. Hancock's day, for the accommodation 
of what had become the North Precinct of Braintree. The ex- 
tracts that follow, from the Precinct Records, show that there were 
several places thought of wliere the house should be built. 

" Dec. 22, 1729. After some considerable debate upon the ques- 
tion, whether the Precinct did judge it needful to have a new meet- 
ing house, they then voted in the affirmative. 

" Jan. 5, 1729-30. Then, after a considerable debate of the 
Precinct about a place where to set the said meeting-house, a vote 
was asked whether it should be set at Col. Q,uincy's gate; it passed 
in the negative. 

" Then whether where the old meeting-house stands or near 
unto it ; it passed in the negative. 

" After more debate upon a place where the said meeting-house 
should be set, the moderator was desired to ask a vote, whether the 
Precinct would set it at the ten miles stone, or near unto it ; it 
passed in the affirmative. 

" Jany. 13, 1730-31. The question where the meeting-house 
should be placed was again discussed at the meeting. The question 
was put whether the said house should be erected on the training 
field, within the said Precinct, as near to the west corner of the 
land of Ensign Saml. Baxter, as the land would admit of; it passed 
in the affirmative." 



125 

The old stone meeting-house was allowed to stand, until, Feb. ■ 
18, 1747-8, a vote passed to sell it to the highest bidder. It was 
sold to Serg. Moses Belcher and Mr. Joseph Nightingale for ^£100 
old tenor. The wooden meeting-house which was dedicated in 
17JJ2, and which stood during the larger portion of Mr. Hancock's 
ministry, the whole of Mr. Briant's, the whole of Mr. Wibird's, 
and the larger portion of INIr. Whitney's, was repaired at different 
times, particularly in 180C, when it was considerably enlarged, to 
meet the wants of the Parish. 

On the 11th day of April, 1826, a committee was appointed by 
the Parish, to whom was referred the subject of erecting a new meet- 
ing-house of stone. This committee reported, 6th of Nov. 1826, 
infavor of such a house, and their Report was, at the same time, 
almost unanimously accepted. A building committee was chosen, 
and on the 9th of the ensuing April, J 827, ground was broken for 
the cellar of the new Church. On the 11th of June, 1827, the 
corner stone was laid with appropriate solemnities. A prayer was 
offered, and an address was made by the Pastor, Rev. Mr. Whitney.* 
Hon. Thomas Greenleaf, Chairman of the Building Committee, 
made some interesting remarks, and read the inscription on the 
plate, which was deposited in a lead box, together with the several 
deeds of land presented to the town by the late President Adams. 
The inscription is as follows : 

" A temple for the public worship of God ; and for public in- 
struction in the doctrines and duties of the Christian religion. 
Erected by the Congregational Society in the Town of Q,uincy ; 
the stone taken from the granite quarries, given to the town by the 
Hon. John Adams, late President of the United States. 

This stone was laid June 11th, 1827, in the fifty-first year of 
American Independence. 
The Rev. Peter Whitney, Pastor of the Society. 
John Q,uincy Adams, President of the United States. 
Levi Lincoln, Governor and Commander in Chief of the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts. 
John Whitney, Danl. Spear, John Souther, 
Selectmen of the Town of Quincy. 
Building Committee. — Thos. Greenleaf, Chairman, Noah Curtis, 
John Souther, Lemuel Brackett, Daniel Spear. 

* See Whitney's History of Quincy. 



126 

Alexander Parris, Architect. 
William Wood, Master Builder. 

MEMORANDA. 

The population of the town estimated at 2000. That of the United 

States at 13,000,000. 

Engraved by Hazen Morse." 

Worship was held in the old house, for the last time, on Sunday 12th 
October, 1828. In the afternoon a farewell sermon, from the words, 
* Your fathers, where are they ; andthe Prophets, do they live for- 
ever ?' was preached, and the occasion is described as very interesting 
and affecting.* The following notice of the Dedication of the new 
Church is taken from the Church Records. " The stone Congrega- 
tional Church in Q-uincy was dedicated to the worship and service 
of the one only living and true God, on Wednesday, the 12th of 
Nov. 1828. Rev. Dr. Gray offered the Introductory Prayer. Rev. 
Mr. Brooks read selections from Scripture. Rev. Dr. Lowell 
offered the Dedicatory Prayer. The Pastor of the Church, Rev. 
Mr. Whitney, preached from Gen. Ch. 28. 17v. Rev. Dr. Porter 
offered the concluding prayer." 

The following beautiful Hymn, from the pen of the Rev. Mr. 
Pierpont, was sung on the occasion, and will be thought worth pre- 
serving. 

" When thy Son, O God, was sleeping 
In death's rocky prison bound, 
When his faithful ones were weeping, 
And the guards Avere watching round ; 
Then thy word that strong house shaking, 
Rent the rocky bars away, 
And the holy sleeper waking 
Rose to meet the rising day. 

Where thy word, by Jesus spoken, 
In its power is heard e 'en now, 
Shake the hills, the rocks are broken, 
As on Calvary's trembling brow ; 
From the bosom of the mountain. 
At that word, these stones have burst. 
And have gathered round the fountain, 
Where our souls may quench their thirst. 

* Journal of F. A. Whitney. 



127 

Here the water of salvation '^ 

Long hath gushed a liberal wave ; 

Here, a Father of our nation 

Drank, and felt the strength it gave. 

Here he sleeps, — his bed how lowly ! 

But his aim and trust were high ; 

And his memory, that is holy, 

And his name, it cannot die. 

While beneath this Temple's Portal 
Rest tlie relics of the just, 
While the light of hope immortal 
Shines above his sacred dust, 
While the well of life its waters 
To the weary here shall give. 
Father, may thy sons and daughters, 
Kneeling round it, drink and live." 

The church is built of granite, with a pediment in front, supported 
by four Doric pillars, the shaft of each being a single block. It 
contains 134 pews on the lower floor, and 22 in the galleries. Ac- 
cording to the very full and clear report of the Building Committee, 
contained in the Parish Records, the work included in the original 
estimate, made by the architect, was performed at a cost ^3000 
within that estimate. The total cost of the building, with the im- 
provements around it, was $30,488,56, to which must be added the 
sum of $4350 voted to be paid to the proprietors of pews in the 
old meeting-house, and the cost of the furnace. The debt incurred 
by the erection of so costly an edifice was, finally, in the year 
1833, wiped off. 

Under the portico of this church lie, in a granite tomb, the re- 
mains of President John Adams and Abigail his wife. And in this 
connexion I cannot forbear giving the following letter, a copy of 
which is inserted in the Parish Records. 

"Quincy, 8 Sept. 1826. 

'• To Thos. Greenleaf, Josiah Quincy, Thos. B. Adams, Edward 
Miller, and Geo. W. Beale, Supervisors of the Temple and School 
Fund, given by John Adams, late deceased, to the Town of Quincy. 

"Gentlemen : — Upon the decease of my late honored father, I 
have considered it a duty devolving upon me, to erect a plain and 
modest monument to his memory ; and my wish is that, divested of 



128 



all ostentation, it may yet be as durable as the walls of the Temple, 
to the erection of which he has contributed, and as the rocks of 
his native town, which are to supply the materials for it. 

" This purpose may be most advantageously effected, if the inhabi- 
tants of the town, in their corporate capacity, should accede to the 
proposition which I now make to them through you, and upon 
which I request you to take their sense as speedily as may be con- 
venient. 

" I propose that when the Congregational Society in this town 
shall determine to commence the erection of the Temple, they 
should adopt a resolution authorizing you to conclude with me an 
agreement, whereby at my expense, a vault or tomb may be con- 
structed, under the Temple, wherein may be deposited the mortal 
remains of the late John Adams and of Abigail, his beloved and 
only wife. And that within the walls of the Temple, at a suitable 
place to be approved by me, a tablet or tablets, of marble or other 
stone, may be adapted to the side of the walls, with a view to dura- 
bility, and with such obituary inscription or inscriptions as I shall 
deem proper. 

" The assent of the town to this modification in the construction 
of the Temple, I suppose to be necessary, or at least expedient. 
But the time when the Temple itself shall be built must, I conceive, 
depend upon the Congregational Society and Church under the Pas- 
toral care of the Rev. Peter Whitney. 

" In proceeding to carry into effect the objects of the Donations 
to the town, I believe great attention will be due to keeping these 
distinctions in mind. The town and the parish (by which I mean 
the Congregational Society and Church) are distinct corporations, 
and consist of persons partly the same, and partly different. The 
Temple, when erected, will, doubtless, be the property of the parish, 
subject to that of the individual pew holders; but the Donations 
being to the town, their assent seems to be necessary even to fix the 
time for the erection of the edifice. 

" I have many reasons for desiring that this may be undertaken 
without delay ; and among the rest, that both my parents may not 
remain, for an indefinite time, without a stone to tell where they lie. 
Should the town and the parish both assent to my present proposal, 
I shall be anxious to know when the latter would propose to com- 
mence the building. Should they approve my design, I shall take 



129 



no measures for erecting a monument elsewliere ; wliicl) I propose 
to do, should they see any inconvenience in the acceptance of my 
offer. It will be necessary that the agreement shouhJ be in writing; 
perhaps by indenture, to fix the property of the vault or tomb, and 
of the tablets. 

" I am, very respectfully, your friend, 

" (Signed) John Quixcy Adams." 
According to Mr. Adams's request, expressed in the above letter, 
an indenture was made, a copy of whicli is contained in the Parish 
Records, by which was conveyed to John Q.uincy Adams a " portion 
of the soil in the cellar, situated under the porch at the entrance 
of the said Temple, and partitioned off by walls, being the central 
division of the said cellar under the porch, and containing fourteen 
feet in length and fourteen in breadth." By the same indenture 
liberty was also granted to affix to any part of the walls of the Tem- 
ple tablets with obituary inscriptions. Accordingly, on the east 
end of the edifice, at the side of the pulpit, a mural monument was 
erected, surmounted by a bust of John Adams from the chisel of 
Greenoucrh. On the tablets beneath the bust are the following in- 
scriptions. 

Libcrtatem, Amicitiam, Fidem Retinehis. 



D. O. M. 



Beneath these w.ills 

Are deposited the mortal remains of 

JOHN ADAMS, 

Son of John and Susanna (Boylston) .A.dams _; 

Second President of the United States ; 

Born — October, 1735; 
30 ' ' 

On the Fourth of July, 1776, 

He pledged his Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor 

To the Independence of his Country ; 

On the third of September, 1783, 

He affixed his seal to the definitive Tieuty with 

Great Britain, 

Which acknowledged that Independence, 

And consummated the redemption of his pledge; 

On the Fourth of July, 1826, 

He was summoned 

To the Independence of Immortality, 

And to the Jud^'ment of his God. 

This house will bear witness to his piety ; 

This Town, his birth-place, to his munificence; 

History to his Patriotism ; 

Posterity to the depth and compass of his mind. 



At his side 

Sleeps till the Tiump shall sound 

ABIGAIL, 

His beloved and only wife, 

Daughter of Wm. and Elizabeth (Q.uincy) Smith; 

In every relation of life a pattern, 
Of Filial, Conjugal, Maternal, and Social virtue; 
II 
Born Nov. — 1744, 

Deceased 23 Oct. 1818, 
^t. 74. 

Married 25 Oct. 1764. 
During an union of more than half a century 
They survived, in harmony of sentiment, prin- 
ciple, and affection. 
The tempests of civil commotion ; 
Meeting undaunted, and surmounting 
The terrors and trials of that Revolution 
Which secured the Freedom of their Country ; 
Improved the condition of their times ; 
And brightened the prospects of Futurity 
To the race of man upon Earth. 



17 



150 



PILGKIM, 



From lives thus spent thy earthly duties learn, 
From Fancy's dreams to active Virtue turn ; 
Let Freedom, Friendsliip, Faith, thy soul engage, 
And serve like them tliy Country and thy age. 



At a Parish Meeting held Feb. 16, 1837, permission was granted, 
by an unanimous vote, to individuals, to place an organ in the meet- 
ing-house, for the use of the Society. 

The Organ, wliich was procured, had previously belonged to Trin- 
ity Church in Boston, and was disposed of when the worshippers in 
that Church furnished themselves with a more powerful instrument. 

The following is a list of the sacred vessels belonging to the 
Church, with the inscriptions they bear, namely : 

A small cup, having two handles, and marked on the bottom 
"Joanna Yorke 16S5 B. C." 

A small cup, of the same form as the preceding, bearing a coat 
of arms on the surface, and marked on the bottom, " B. C. 1(599." 

A small cup, of the same form as the preceding, plain on the 
surface, with the following inscription : " The gift of Deacon 
Samuel Bass, Wm. Veazey, Jno. Ruggle, David Walesby, 1694." 

A high cup marked below the rim : " The gift of William Need- 
ham to Brantry Church 1688." 

A high cup without mark or date, but apparently very old. 

A high cup marked : " The gift of Mrs. Mehetable Fisher to 
the First Church of Christ in Braintree 1741." 

A cup marked : " The gift of the Hon'''°- Edmund Quincy Esq. 
to the First Church in Braintree, Feby. 23d, 1737-8." 

A tankard marked : " The gift of the Honbl. John duincy Esq. 
to the First Church of Christ in Braintree, 1767." 

A tankard marked : " The Gift of Mrs. Sarah Adams (Relict of 
Mr. Edward Adams late of Milton) to the First Church in Brain- 
tree." There is no date added, but the Church Records fix the 
time Nov. 4, 1770. 

" Four large-sized Flagons, marked as follows: "Presented by 
Daniel Greenleaf to the Congregational Church in Quincy 1828." 

Three Plates marked thus : " Presented to the First Congrega- 
tional Church in Quincy, by Deacon Josiah Adams, Deacon Daniel 
Spear, and Deacon Samuel Savil, 1828." 



131 

A Baptismal Vase having this inscription : " Presented to the Con- 
gregational Church in the town of Quincy, by Mrs. Eliza Susan 
auincy, 1828." 

The two volumes of Scriptures, used in the pulpit, contain the 
following : 

" To the Church and Congregational Society of the Town of 
Quincy, this Bible, for the use of the Sacred Desk, is respectfully 
presented by Josiah Q-uincy. 

" Boston, Oct. 1808." 

" New bound and divided into two volumes, Oct. 1828." 



a. Page 50. 



Lemuel Briant, the sixth minister of the Braintree First Church, 
was born about the year 1722. He was a native of Scituate, Mass., 
where his ancestors had resided from a very early period. His 
father, Thomas Briant, Esq., says Mr. Dean, " was an able and 
useful man as a magistrate ; but tradition speaks of some singulari- 
ties. He was the father of Lemuel Briant, a man of extraordinary 
powers and singularities, who died 1754, and was buried at Scitu- 
ate." He was graduated at Harvard College in 1739. Where he 
pursued his theological studies I have not learned ; perhaps in his 
native town, for he was admitted to full communion with the church 
in Scituate, July 5, 1741. Before coming to Braintree it appears 
that he preached some time in Worcester. 

At a precinct meeting held in the North Precinct of Braintree, 
Sept. 16, 1745, Mr. Briant was elected, by an unanimous vote, min- 
ister of the church. And on the 23d day of September, same year, 
"the Precinct voted that there shall be allowed and paid unto the 
Rev. Mr. Lemuel Briant (if he settles with them in the work of the 
ministry) one hundred pounds in bills of credit on this province of 
the last emission ; fifty pounds to be paid at the end of the first 
year after his ordination ; the other fifty pounds to be paid at the 
end of the second year, as an encouragement towards his settling 
with them in the aforesaid work- 



132 

And tliey then voted, " that there shall be allowed and paid unto 
him, the said Mr. Lemuel Briant, fifty pounds per year in bills of 
credit on this province of the last emission, for two years after his 
first settling with them ; and at the end of two years there shall be 
an addition made of twelve pounds and ten shillings in bills of the 
like emission, or in other bills equivalent, as a yearly salary during 
his performing the work of the ministry among them." 

It appears, by an entry in the Church Records, that at a meeting 
of the First Church in Brainlree, held Sept. 15, 1745, it was voted, 
" That the church will forego the privilege of preceding the other 
qualified inhabitants in the choice of their minister ; and will join 
with the other inhabitants of the said Precinct, pursuant to a war- 
rant made out for assembling them on the IGth instant, in order to 
the choice of a gospel minister to settle among them." 

The following account of his ordination, in Mr. Briant's hand- 
writing, is taken from the Church Records. " Wednesday, Dec. 
11th, 1745, Lemuel Briant was ordained the Pastor of the 1st 
Church of Christ in Braintree. The churches sent to were, The 
Church at Lexington. The 2d Church in Scituate. The 2d in 
Braintree. The 1st in Hingham. The first in Scituate. The 
Church in Milton. The 1st in Stoughton. The Church in Dor- 
chester. The 1st in Weymouth. The Rev. Mr. Bourne of Scitu- 
ate began with prayer. The Rev. Mr. Eells of Scituate preached 
from 2 Cor. iv. 5. The Rev. Mr. Niles of Braintree gave the 
charge. The Rev. Mr. Taylor of Milton the right hand of fellow- 
ship." 

It has been said that Mr. Briant was not examined, at his ordina- 
tion, as to his Creed.* 

Mr. Briant's ministry in Braintree was comparatively brief, and 
his peace was disturbed by a religious controversy which, as we 
shall presently see, was occasioned by one of his publications, and 
which raged for several years. Indeed his life was a short one. 
Oct. 22, 1753, a precinct meeting was called, one object of which 
was; " To take into serious consideration the matter of the Rev. 
Mr. Briant's petition, bearing date Oct. 10, 1753, inscribed to the 
North Parish in Braintree ; more especially that clause in the peti- 

■* Bradford's Biugrapliy of Dr. Mayhew. This fact is stated in the Report, 
made by a committee of his society, which will be noticed in the proper 
place. 



133 

tion which earnestly desires that you will make way tor the settling 
a minister, by dismissing your present Pastor from the burdens and 
labors of his office ; and if the parish, after mature consideration 
had on the premises, shall think it advisable and that it will be for 
the best, (all things considered,) both for the parish and for* our 
Rev. Pastor, to grant him a dismission ; or if otherwise the Parish 
shall think best to wait patiently some time longer, to see if it may 
not please God in his good Providence to restore our Rev. Pastor 
to his former state of health." 

At the meeting, John Quincy, Esq. was chosen Moderator. 
" Then the vote was put whether they would proceed according to 
the warrant ; it passed in the affirmative. Then the vote was put 
whether they would grant to the Rev. Mr. Briant his request in re- 
spect to his dismission, and it passed in the affirmative. A commit- 
tee was chosen, Edmund (iuincy, Esq., Major Joseph Crosby, Dea- 
con Parmenter, Mr Josiah duincy, and Deacon Moses Belcher, to 
acquaint the Rev. Mr. Briant with the proceedings of the meeting, 
viz. that they have dismissed him from his ministerial office in this 
place ; and to return him thanks for his labors in the ministry 
among us." * 

Mr. Briant did not long survive his removal from this place. He 
died the following year, at Hingham, according to the author of the 
Description of Scituate in the Massachusetts Historical Collections.! 
His will, however, I have found, in the Suffolk Probate Records. 
It is dated 21st of August, 1754, and in it he styles himself Lemuel 
Briant, Gent, of Boston. The will was examined and proved Oct. 
8, 1754. Mr. Briant was buried at Scituate, his native place, and 
the Rev. Mr. May of that town has been kind enough to procure 
for me the following inscription from his grave stone. '• Here lies 
interred, the body of the Rev. Mr. Lemuel Bryant, who departed 
this life, October the First, 1754. Aged 32 years. " 

In the interval between Mr. Hancock's death and Mr. Briant's 
settlement there were 31 baptisms. During Mr. Briant's ministry, 
there were 155 baptisms and 60 admitted to the church. 

Mr. Briant had two sons ; Lemuel, born July 16, 1749, and Jo- 
seph, born Nov. 23, 1751. 

From Mr. Briant's publications one would be justified in pro- 

* North Proc. Records. * Hist. Coll. 2d series, Vol. IV. 



134 

nouncing him a man of strong native abilities, of a capacious and 
vigorous intellect. He was a bold thinker, and fearless and inde- 
pendent in his judgment. Ilis wit was pungent ; he had consid- 
erable command of lanfiuage and skill in the management of an 
argument; and he was capable of giving forcible, pointed, and 
felicitous expression to his thoughts. In theological speculations he 
had advanced considerably beyond the prevalent opinions of his 
day, and was one among that small but honored company of New 
England divines, who had been able to extricate their minds from 
the dogmas of Calvin, and to discover and appreciate the native 
worth of simple, primitive Christianity. And here seems to be a 
suitable place to quote from the letter of President John Adams to 
Dr. Morse, which has been so frequently published. The letter is 
dated, Quincy, May 15, 1815. 

" Dear Doctor, 

" I thank you for your favor of the lOtli, and the pamphlet en- 
closed, entitled, ' American Unitarianism.' I have turned over its 
leaves, and found nothing that was not familiarly known to me. In 
the preface, Unitarianism is represented as only thirty years old in 
New England. I can testify as a witness to its old age. Sixty-five 
years ago, my own minister, the Rev. Lemuel Bryant ; Dr. Jona- 
than Mayhew of the West Church in Boston ; the Rev. Mr. Shute, 
of Hingham ; the Rev John Brown, of Cohasset ; and perhaps 
equal to all, if not above all, the Rev. Mr. Gay, of Hingham, were 
Unitarians. Among the laity how m.any could I name, lawyers, 
physicians, tradesmen, farmers ! But at present I will name only 
one, Richard Cranch, a man who had studied divinity, and Jewish 
and Christian antiquities, more than any clergyman now existing in 
New England." 

Some account of the controversy, in which Mr Briant was en- 
gaged with neighboring ministers, may be expected in this note. 

In the year 1749, as I have already stated, Mr. Briant published 
his sermon on moral virtue. This sermon had probably been 
preached in various places in the course of the author's exchanges. 
We know that it was preached in Scituate, the native place of the 
writer. Mr. Dean, in his History of that town, gives the follow- 
ing anecdote. 

"Mr. Lemuel Bryant of Quincy, (Braintree,) who had gone 



135 

somewhat before the age in liberal speculations, preached tor him 
(Mr. Eels of Scituate) on a certain day, and delivered a sermon, 
which he afterwards printed, on the text, * All our righteousnesses 
arc filthy rags,' and explained the text in the manner wliich would 
now be generally acceptable, showing tliat the formalities of a cor- 
rupt generation of the Jews were therein described, and not the 
moral virtues of true worshippers, which led Mr. Eclls to say, 
' Alas ! Sir, you have undone to-day, all that I have been doing 
for forty years,' and Bryant, with his accustomed wit and courtesy, 
replied, ' Sir, you do me too much honor in saying, that I could 
undo, in one sermon, the labors of your long and useful life.' An 
aged and highly intelligent gentleman, who related this anecdote to 
us twenty , years since, also remarked, that Mr. Eells preached a 
series of sermons afterward, with a view to correct Mr. Bryant's 
errors, but it was not easy, remarked the same gentleman, to discern 
much difference between his doctrine and that of Mr Bryant." * 

Under the first head of his discourse our author accumulates 
circumstances to show the great degeneracy into which the Jew- 
ish people had sunk ; and to prove that " the drift and design of the 
Prophet's discourse is not to depreciate true righteousness; — but 
to convince them that they were utterly destitute of it," &/C. He 
finishes his picture of the corruption of the Prophet's time in the 
following striking manner : " I will only add, that all their crying 
abominations were committed among them under the greatest 
aggrav-jitions, while they enjoyed superior advantages of excelling 
in virtue ; while they had the constant instructions and warnings of 
God's Prophets to the contrary ; while God, by a variety of signal 
providences both merciful and afflictive, endeavored to engage them 
in their duty and obedience; finally, while they themselves pretend- 
ed to be the most precise people under heaven; so that in fact they 
made their religion a cloak for their immoralities, and imagined all 
was well, that they were very pious good people, though they lied, 
stole, committed adultery, swore falsely, and in short, in common 
life practised all manner of villainy, so long as they could say, 
(which was the common cant of the times,) The Temple of the 
Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are we." 

Under the second head of discourse Mr. Briant endeavors to 

* Dean's History of Scituate, p. 199. 



136 

prove that the text was not " designed to be a just character of the 
personal righteousness of truly good and holy men." 

This our author argues from " the nature, use, and importance 
of true rigliteousness, considered as the image of God, the substance 
of Christianity, the product of the spirit, the ornament of great 
price in the sight of God, of particular and universal influence on 
human happiness, in their present, and in their future eternal state," 
and draws the inference that the Scriptures never could have de- 
signed to undervalue this righteousness. 

Under the third head of discourse Mr. B. points out " some of 
the dangerous consequences of admitting this sense of the text ; " 
thatall such attempts to depreciate moral virtue will " minister to 
the growth of infidelity, and of vice among professed Christians, and 
to the great disquiet of sincere, good Christians, who are the proper 
heirs of comfort." All these points he illustrates in his peculiarly 
bold and impressive style. With respect to the influence of such a 
doctrine in favoring infidelity, I cannot avoid quoting a portion of 
his remarks. 

*' But if this be Revelation and Graee, to vilify human nature, 
and disparage all our improvements in those divine virtues wherein 
essentially consists all our glory and felicity ; if the Scriptures are 
used to affi-ont human reason, and debauch men's manners, and the 
most glorious dispensation of the Gospel in particular, instead of 
teaching us to deny ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and to live 
soberly, righteously, charitably, and devoutly in this present world, 
be conceived of only as a scheme calculated to allow men the prac- 
tice of their vices here, with impunity hereafter ; if this be the 
liberty and peculiar privilege of the saints to be discharged from 
their obligations to obey their master, and they that break his com- 
mandments stand fairer for his grace, than they who conscientiously 
keep them, for fear they should trust to what they do ; so far, I say, 
as any take their conceptions from such corruptions of Christianity, 
they must ncessarily be prejudiced against it. Thunder we ever so 
loud, without any previous lightning, 'He that believeth not shall 
be damned,' it will signify nothing, for they will be damned before 
they will believe." 

Such is an imperfect analysis of this remarkable Sermon : — re- 
markable it deserves to be called on several accounts ; for its intrinsic 
excelle.ices, for tlie clear thinking, the freedom from mistiness, preju- 



137 

dice, and cant, the perfect independence of mind, the strength and 
pungency of style, which it displays. But it was not suited to find 
much popular favor at that day, and must wait many years before 
the sentiments it advocated should be in harmony with the public 
mind. The distinctness with which it stated the opinions of its 
author, and exposed the absurdities into which the popular creed 
had run, startled those who had quietly settled themselves with the 
conviction that Calvinism was something very good, without ever 
having examined thoroughly what it was, or what it led to, 

Mr. Briant was replied to by several ministers. The Rev. Sam- 
uel Niles, at that time Pastor of the Second Church in Braintree, 
published a Sermon entitled ; " A Vindication of divers important 
Gospel Doctrines, and of the Teachers and Professors of them 
against the injurious reflections and misrepresentations contained in 
a late printed Discourse of the Rev. Mr.' Lemuel Briant's, Entitled, 
&LC., by Samuel Niles, Pastor of a Church in Braintree." 

The copy I have seen is without date,* but was probably delivered 
and printed soon after Mr. Briant's Sermon appeared. But Mr. 
Briant's chief opponent was Mr. Porter, who was a minister in 
Bridgewater. " He died," says Allen in his Biographical Diction- 
ary, " in the hope of the Christian, March 12, 1802, in the 87th 
year of his age, and the 62d of his ministry, having been enabled to 
preach till near the close of his life. He was a man of respectable 
talents, of great prudence, and of a blameless life." — In 1750 he 
published a Sermon entitled, " The absurdity and blasphemy of 
substituting the personal righteousness of men in the room of the 
surety-righteousness of Christ, in the important article of Justifica- 
tion before God. A Sermon preached at the South Precinct in 
Braintree, Dec. 25, 1749. By John Porter A. M., Pastor of the 
4th Church of Christ in Bridgewater." — He took for his text the 
same passage of Scripture that Mr. Briant had discoursed from, 
and doubtless intended a refutation of the doctrine of the Pastor of 
the First Church in this town. This Sermon is the production of 
a mind strongly and apparently with sincerity attached to the sys- 
tem of Calvin, but narrow in the compass of its thoughts, and far 
inferior to the mind of his opponent. Mr. Porter undertakes to in- 
terpret the text as meant by the Prophet to be applied to the right- 

* Allen's Biography says it was published in 17o"2 

18 



138 

eousness of the very best men, and consequently including the 
Prophet himself and his own character. He adduces three argu- 
ments for this interpretation. 1st. He asserts that the word right- 
eousness is never, in the Scriptures, used to designate the hypocrit- 
ical performances of bad men, but uniformly applied to good acts. 
Secondly, ihe word a// makes the assertion of the text| universal. 
And thirdly, the word our in the text strengthens, in the author's 
apprehension, his second argument, and shows that the Prophet in- 
cludes himself in the declaration. With a person who had no 
greater expansion of mind than to make such interpretations of 
Scripture as these, it would seem there could be but little room 
for serious argument. 

In 1750, Mr. Briant published a Letter entitled, "Some friendly 
remarks on a Sermon lately preached at Braintree, 3d Parish, and 
now published to the world, by the Rev. Mr. Porter of Bridgewater ; 
from those words in Isaiah 64. 6, &,c. in a letter to the author, to be 
communicated to his attestators, by Lemuel Briant." At the con- 
clusion of Mr. Porter's Sermon there had been added an " attesta- 
tion," as it was called, signed by five brother clergymen, who were, 
doubtless, orthodox after the straitest sect, in which they express 
their entire agreement with the sentiments of Mr. Porter, and la- 
ment the " dreadful increase of Arminianism and other errors in the 
land, among ministers and people." Mr. Briant, in his Letter., as- 
sumes and maintains throughout a strain of raillery which must 
have been annoying to his adversaries who felt its keen edge, and 
which provoked them to charge him, in reply, with trifling with the 
subject. For this charge there was no foundation in what he had 
written. He was playing with them and with their argument, 
which must have seemed to him trifling in the extreme. But a 
bigoted man will always be prone to identify his opinions so closely 
with religion itself, that what is aimed only at him is easily referred 
by him to the subject, and his opponent forthwith is set down as a 
trifler and blasphemer. 

"It must be acknowledged," says Mr. Briant, in the course of his 
Letter, " with all gratitude, that there has of late years been a re- 
markable out-pouring of the good old Berean spirit ; and the perils, 
that in times of ingorance and implicit believing have attended free- 
dom and plainness of speech, (which is an essential branch of that 
holiness that becomes God's house forever,) are very considerably 



139 

abated." It may aid us in understanding the meaning of this pas- 
sage, if we bear in mind who were the ministers at that day of the 
neighboring churches, Dr. Gay and Dr. Shute of llingham, Mr. 
Eells of Scituate, were all anli-Calvinistic, and Dr. IMayhew of 
West Church, Boston, anti-Trinitarian, one of the boldest and 
most candid advocates of a liberal and rational theology. With these 
men IMr. Briant associated; and although he was, both from nature 
and choice, less prudent than some of them, yet they could not fail 
to sympathize with him in the views he advanced. 

Mr. Briant rallies his opponent upon his differing from Calvin, 
his great master, in his interpretation of the text. He quotes Cal- 
vin's Commentary on the passage, giving the original Latin, and an 
English version of his own, and teases him with a variety of ironi- 
cal explanations of this oversight, concluding with saying : " And 
then again, to be honest with you, I confess I have not sometimes 
been without my doubts whether or no the language in which Cal- 
vin wrote might not a little startle you. There being some in all 
ages, like those in Dr. South's, who, he says, always looked upon 
Latin to be the language of the Beast." — " Alas ! alas ! that one 
of his youngest children should rise up at this day against him, and 
find so many elder brethren to countenance, attest, and support this 
his disobedience and rebellion against him ; that the cause of good 
old Mr. Calvin should be so wounded in the house of so many of 
his best friends" — He concludes thus; " Dear Sir, I presume not 
to subscribe myself (according to old style) your brother in the 
faith and fellowship of the Gospel ; for fear you should imagine I 
have not faith enough for any fellowship. But you will allow me, I 
trust, the privilege of a Heathen {if sound and serious) to declare 
that I am your fellow creature and hearty well-wisher, 

" Lemuel Briant. 
"Braintree, May 22, 1750." 

After an interval of some time, Mr. Porter appeared before the 
public, to vindicate his Sermon, and to answer Mr. Briant's Letter. 
There was added to Mr. Porter's Letter " an Appendix by one of the 
attestators," longer than the Letter itself The Appendix is sub- 
scribed by John Cotton, Halifax. 

The chief object of Mr. Porter and Mr. Cotton, in the Letter and 
Appendix, seems to be, to draw off Mr. Briant's attention from the 
single point of controversy between them, namely, that which had 



140 

been suggested by Mr. Briant's Sermon, and by charging him with 
being heterodox on all the chief doctrines of the Calvinistic creed, 
to render him an object of popular distrust. They especially dwell 
long upon what they call the prevarication of Mr. Briant, in saying, 
that the only point in dispute between him and his opponents was 
in regard to the interpretation of the particular text which lie takes 
for his Sermon; and the appendix particularly is a labored en- 
deavor to show that Mr. Briant is unsound and Arminian in his 
notions upon all the main doctrines of Christianity. Mr. Foxcroft, 
whom Mr. Briant had designated harshly " as a verbose, dark, Jes- 
uitical writer," added a note to the appendix, in which he charges 
Briant with being not merely Arminian, but Socinian ; and states 
his reasons in the shape of inferences drawn from his writings. 
There was much in the tone assumed by these three writers calcu- 
lated to excite a just indignation on the part of him whom they at- 
tacked. He replied to them in a piece dated, Braintree, April 15, 
175J,and entitled, "Some more friendly remarks on Mr. Porter 
and Company. In a second Letter to him and two of his abettors, 
namely, Mr. Cotton, appendix writer, and Mr. F-xcr-ft, marginal 
noter. Wherein the persons, sentiments, and arguments of the 
Triumvirate are treated witli the utmost deference that truth and 
faithfulness could possibly admit of" This Letter is remarkable 
for clear thinking and vigorous diction, for pointed wit and pungent 
satire, for controversial adroitness, and close logic. He confines him- 
self, in this reply, to showing that the inferences which his oppo- 
nents had made respecting his opinions, so fir as they were drawn 
from his Sermon, (and this he contended was the subject-matter of 
dispute between them,) were wholly unauthorized and gratuitous ; 
and this he does so fully as to leave them in the unenviable predic- 
ament of having brought charges against him upon no better ground 
than conjecture and suspicion. 

• There were some members of Mr. Briant's Parish and Church 
that were much disturbed by his liberal views of Theology, al- 
though there can be no doubt that " the body of the church and 
people "* accorded perfectly with their Pastor. Yet the minority 
were not content, until they had called an Ecclesiastical Council 
consisting of seven Churches, namely. The old South Church in 
Boston, the Second Church in Braintree, the two Churches in Wey- 

* These words used in tlie Report of Proceedings of Council. 



141 

mouth, the First Church in Stoughton, the Second Church in 
Bridgewater, and the Church in Hanover. The Council met again, 
by adjournment, Jan. 9, J 753. Mr. Briant stiil declining, as he had 
done previously, to acknowledge their authority, or to be present at 
their sessions. There were eight subjects of complaint against him. 
The first related to his Sermon on Moral Virtue, which they pro- 
nounced just cause of offence to the aggrieved party, that is, the mi- 
nority of the First Church. The second complaint related to Mr. 
Briaut's absenting himself, as was alleged, from public fasts. The 
third complaint was, that Mr. Briant took no proper measures to 
clear himself of several scandalous sins charged upon him. The 
fourth ground of complaint was, that Mr. Briant disclaimed and re- 
nounced the Assembly's Catechism, and substituted another (Mr. 
Pierce's) in its stead. The fifth related to Mr. Briant's " recom- 
mending Mr. John Taylor's Book to the prayerful perusal of some 
of his brethren." The sixth was connected with the suspension of 
a member of Mr. Briant's Church. The seventh and eighth articles 
related to Mr. Briant's alleged refusal to call a church meeting, at 
the request of the aggrieved brethren, and to the Church's easy 
concurrence with their Pastor in what were called his errors, par- 
ticularly in laying aside the Assembly's Catechism. 

In their printed Report, a copy of which is before me, the ex 
parte Council pronounced the several complaints, recited above, to 
have some foundation ; but, at the same time, they express the opin- 
ion, that the " aggrieved brethren " of the Church had gone too far 
in their high charges against the majority of the Church. They 
conclude their Report with "their best advices" to the two parties. 

This Council effected as much as Councils ever effect, that is, 
nothing at all, except it may be, to increase the difficulty in which 
they intermeddled. One of the articles, it will be observed, con- 
sisted, not indeed of direct charges against Mr. Briant's moral char- 
acter, but of a complaint that he did not take sufficient pains to 
clear himself of charges which had been brought against him. The 
charo-es that were made against him are doubtless to be ascribed in 
part to that bigotry which, as is well known, is too apt to refer any 
deviations from the popular standard of religious opinions, to de- 
pravity of heart and life, and in part to Mr. Briant's eccentricities, 
and his defiance of public sentiment in his bold publication of his 
theoloiiical views. 



142 

The charges that were brought against their Pastor, in the Report 
of the Council, were deemed worthy of notice by the Church ; and 
they appointed a Committee, in March, 1753, whose duty it should 
be " to inquire into the grounds of those slanderous reports that 
had been spread abroad, respecting themselves, and the Rev. Mr. 
Lemuel Briant, their Pastor." The Report, made by this Com- 
mittee, I have seen. It is signed by J. duincy, Joseph Crosby, 
Moses Belcher, Edm. Quincy, John Bass, Moses Belcher, Joseph 
Neal, J. Palmer, Richard Brackett, and is dated, Braintree April 14, 
1753. This Report is drawn up with ability, and expressed in 
temperate but firm language. It justifies the Pastor in the course 
he had taken with respect to Church discipline, and his refusing to 
acknowledge, in any way, the Council. It denies the truth of the 
charge brought against Mr. Briant of a neglect of fasts. The fol- 
lowing extract from the concluding portion of this Report will be 
read by many, with interest, as embodying a spirit of freedom and 
liberality worthy of Protestants and Christians. 

" Third. As the several scandalous immoralities, charged upon 
Mr. Briant, have never been proved in any one instance, so the 
Church ought to adhere to their vote relating to this case, and all 
the world besides, until they know better, ought to be in perfect 
charity with him. 

" Fourth. Though Mr. Briant has too much neglected catechis- 
ing, yet he is now ready (as soon as his health permits) to teach 
our children such parts of the catechism as he apprehends agreeable 
to the Scriptures. Nor can we think that any Christian Society 
ought to be so attached to any human composure, as to make it a 
crime in their Pastor to prefer pwre Scripture instruction to it. 

" That we have no evidence of Mr. Briant's having made any 
particular profession of his faith at his ordination, or that any such 
thing was required of him by the Council then present ; or if he had 
made any such profession, it could not destroy his right of private 
judgment, nor be obligatory upon him, any further than it continued 
to appear to him agreeable to reason and Scripture. 

"And fifth. That our Rev. Pastor's recommending Mr. John 
Taylor's book to the prayerful perusal of one or more of his Par- 
ishoners, upon supposition of its being erroneous, was worthy a 
Protestant minister ; and we cannot but commend our Pastor for 
the pains he takes to promote a free and impartial examination into 



143 

all articles of our holy religion, so that all may judge, even of them- 
selves, what is right. 

" As to the supposed doctrinal errors charged upon Mr. Briant, we 
shall not presume to condemn him, although he in;iy diflbr from 
some of us ; because, as he has an undoubted right to judo-e for 
himself, so we do not apprehend the difference in opinion between 
him and any of this Society so great, as to justify ajty breach or 
schism in the Church, or to cause any uncharitable censures from 
men of a Christian disposition. 

" We have made our above Report according to the best evi- 
dences we have been able to collect. We hope none will hereafter 
charge us with vindicating our Pastor, or any one else, in immoral 
practices, or in contemning the fundamental doctrines of the Chris- 
tian Religion ; for we not only profess the most religious regard for 
the sacred Scriptures, but also for the practice of virtue ; and we 
hope that the aggrieved will, each one for himself in particular, 
consider whether his conduct, towards this Society, and their Pas- 
tor, has been such as became the Gospel of peace, and thereupon 
repent and amend in every instance wherein he finds himself to 
have erred ; and that we may all sit down together in peace and 
charity, and worship the Father in spirit and in truth." 



R. Pawe 55. 



Mr. Anthony Wibird, the seventh minister of the Church, was a 
native of Portsmouth, N. H. He was a graduate of Harvard Uni- 
versity, in the year 1747. He was chosen, Oct. 8, 1754, by a unan- 
imous vote, Pastor of the Braintree First Church. At first it was 
voted that he should receive a settlement of =£133 G.s-. 8cl. lawful 
money, and £80 yearly salary. He declined the invitation; but be- 
ing requested to reconsider the matter, he accepted the offer finally 
made him, which was, that he should receive c£lOO salary and no 
settlement. The following account of Mr. Wibird's ordination is 
in the Church Records, in his own hand-writing. 

"Wednesday, February the fifth, 1755, Anthony Wibird was or- 
dained Pastor of the 1st Church of Christ in Braintree. The 



144 

Churches sent to, were the 2d and 3d Churches in said Town, the 
Rev. Mr. Niles pastor of the 2d, and the Rev. Mr. Taft pastor of the 
3d ; to the Rev. Messrs. Sewall and Prince of Boston ; to the 1st 
Church in Cambridge, the Rev. Mr. Appleton pastor : to the 1st 
Church in Portsmouth, the Rev. Mr. Langdou pastor ; the Rev. Mr. 
Bowman pastor of the Church in Dorchester ; the Rev. Mr. Rob- 
bins, pastor of tlie Church in Mihon; the Rev. JMr. Smith of Wey- 
mouth ; the Rev. Mr. Gay of Hingham ; and the Rev. Mr. Dunbar 
pastor of a Church in Stoughton. The Rev. Mr. Langdon began 
with prayer. Tlie Rev. Mr. Appleton preached from those words 
in the 10th Levit. 3d. I will be sanctified in them that come nigh 
me, and before all the people I will be glorified. The Rev. Mr. 
Gay gave the charge. The Rev. Mr. Dunbar the right hand of 
fellowship." 

In the interval between Mr. Briant's dismission and Mr. Wibird's 
settlement, there were seventeen Baptisms. During Mr. Wibird's 
ministry there were 781 Baptisms, and 221 were admitted to full 
communion. 

" For many years previous to his death he was unable, from bod- 
ily infirmities, to attend upon the duties of his office." * The 
present Senior Pastor of the Church, Rev. Peter Whitney, was set- 
tled as colleague with him, Feb. 5, ISOO. Mr. Wibird died, June 4, 
1800, in the 46th year of his ministry, and his remains lie in the 
same tomb with Mr. Hancock; but there is no inscription to his 
memory. ,In the Church Records is the following notice of the event. 

"Died June 4, Rev. Anthony Wibird, Senior Pastor of the Con- 
o-reorational Church in Quincy, aged 72. His funeral was attended 
on the 7th, when the Rev. Mr. Williams of Weymouth made the 
prayer, and the Rev. Mr. Weld of Braintree preached, from those 
words of the Apostle Paul, ' I have finished my course.' " 

During Mr. Wibird's ministry the North Precinct of Braintree 
was made a separate town. The subject of dividing the Town had 
been considered many years before it took place. In the North 
Precinct Records I find the following : 

"Feb. 9, 1750. Voted, that it was their mind to be separate 
from the other two Precincts in Braintree. 

" Voted, that it was their mind that the town of Braintree should 
be divided into two townships." 

* Whitney's History of Quincy. 



145 

A Committee was chosen at the same time, to consider this mat- 
ter, namely, Hon. John Q,uincy Esq., Mr. Josiah Quincy, Major 
Joseph Crosby. After this we find no further notice of the subject 
till 1792, when what was once the North Precinct of Braintree be- 
came incorporated as a distinct town, by the name of Quincy. 
" Rev. Anthony Wibird was requested to give a name to the place. 
But he refusing, a similar request was made to the Hon. Richard 
Cranch, who recommended its being called Quincy, in honor of 
Col. John Q.uincy, who had been the owner of the Mt. Wollaston 
farm, which had given the first civilized name to the place." * 

Mr. Wibird was never married. He seems to have been a man of 
some singularities. He never published anything that I can dis- 
cover. He is said to have possessed considerable literary taste, and 
to have read poetry with fine expression. 

Since writing the above, I am informed by Lemuel Brackett Esq., 
that it is his impression, that JMr. Wibird preached an Election 
Sermon, which was thought highly of at the time it was delivered. 
Mr. Brackett also states that Mr. Wibird took pains in learning a 
method of short hand-writing ; so that his manuscripts, could any 
have been procured, would probably have been illegible and useless. 



S. Page 55. 

Rev. Peter Whitney, the eighth minister of the First Congre- 
gational Church in duincy, (formerly Braintree,) was a native of 
Northborough, Mass., where his father was a settled minister many 
years. He graduated at Harvard University in 1791, and having 
kept school in Hingham some time, was settled in the ministry in 
this town, Feb. 5, 1800. The services at his ordination were per- 
formed by the following clergymen : Introductory prayer, by the 
Rev. Prof. Ware of Cambridge, then minister of Hingham ; Ser- 
mon, by Rev. Mr. Whitney of Northborough; Ordaining prayer by 
Rev. Dr. Fiske of West Cambridge ; Charge by Rev. Mr. Cura- 

• See Whitney's History of Quincy. 

19 



146 

mings, of Billerica; Right hand of fellowship by Rev. Mr. McKean 
of Milton ; Concluding prayer by Rev. Mr. Harris of Dorchester. 

Mr. Whitney has published the following sermons, viz. 

Sermon at the Ordination of Perez Lincoln at Gloucester in 1805. 
Sermon on the Death of Richard and Mary Cranch in 1811. A 
Fast Sermon in 1812. Sermon on the Death of Mrs. Abigail Ad- 
ams in 1818. Sermon on the Death of President John Adams, 1826. 
And a New Year's Discourse in 1837. 

In 1835, June 3d, the present writer was installed. The ser- 
vices at his installation were conducted as follows, viz. 

Introductory prayer and selections from the Scriptures were by 
Rev. Mr. Whitney of West Roxbury ; Sermon by Rev. Mr. Froth- 
ingham of the First Church, Boston ; Prayer of installation by 
Rev. Peter Whitney of Q,uincy ; Charge by Rev. Dr. Parkman of 
Boston; Right hand of fellowship by Rev. Mr. Cunningham of Dor- 
chester ; Address to the society by Rev. Mr. Gannett of Boston ; 
and Concluding prayer by Rev. Mr. Huntoon of Milton. 



T. Pages 7, 36, 37, 57. 

The four wood cuts contained in this pamphlet represent objects 
directly associated with the early history of our church. They are 
from drawings made by Mr. George W. Beale, Jr. 

The Jirst in order is the oldest of the communion vessels, having 
the following inscription : " Joanna Yorke 1685. B. C." 

The second is the vane that belonged to the old stone meeting 
house, that stood near the ground occupied at present by the Sec- 
ond Congregational Church. It will be observed that it bears date 
1666. It now stands opposite the mansion-house of Hon. John 
Q,uincy Adams, where it was placed by his father, President John 
Adams, a few years before his death. 

The tJiird is a sketch of the hill, belonging to the farm of Hon. 
Mr. Adams, which gave the original name to this plantation, before it 
became a town. The hill still bears the name of Mount Wollaston. 



147 

The fourth represents the gravestones, still standing in our burial- 
place, of the first Pastor and Teacher of Braintree Church. The 
one to the left, Mr. Tompson's is, I presume, the original stone. 
The other is probably modern. Mr. Hancock has the following 
note to one of his Century Discourses. " Mr Flynt's monument is 
still to be seen, though much gone to decay, but I hope to see the 
tomb of the prophet rebuilt." What Mr. Hancock suggested was, 
most likely, done soon after. 

I will venture to express the hope that the monument that covers 
the remains of Mr. Fiske, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Hancock, and Mr. Wi- 
bird may be rebuilt. 



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